West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday lashed out at the Election Commission of India for curtailing the duration of campaign for the last three phases of assembly elections in the state.
“We had urged the poll panel to club the last three phases into one. The poll panel didn’t do it and instead curtailed the campaign period. The ECI is acting on BJP’s instructions. If any big incident happens the ECI would be responsible. Two candidates have already died,” Banerjee said while addressing a public rally at Purba Bardhaman.
The Commission had on Friday banned rallies, public meetings, street plays and nukkad sabhas between 7 pm and 10 am every day starting Friday. It also increased the silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours for the last three phases.
The order came after the state’s chief electoral officer held an all-party meeting to discuss how Covid-19 protocols could be implemented in election rallies.
“As we move closer to Kolkata, in urban areas the public meetings are mostly held towards night. In the morning candidates go for door-to-door campaign. The ECI has banned campaigns at night so that no meetings and rallies could be held,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“As we move closer to Kolkata, in urban areas the public meetings are mostly held towards night. In the morning candidates go for door-to-door campaign. The ECI has banned campaigns at night so that no meetings and rallies could be held,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Elections in 180 assembly seats out of the total 294 constituencies have been held in five phases till April 17; with three more phases still remaining. Counting will be held on May 2.
“When elections were held in BJP strongholds, even though they won’t be able to win those seats, the party got almost a week’s time before each phase to campaign. Now the ECI has curtailed the campaign period to stop me. Because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah do not have meetings in that period,” she added.
Banerjee also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying that the people of Bengal would give her the certificate of former chief minister on May 2.
“Didi will not go. She is here to stay. Modi will have to leave in future. There is no space to say that Didi will be former CM. It is Didi’s seccha mrityu (power to die as per will) like Bhisma of Mahabharata. But very soon you will be former PM. After winning Bengal we will dive headlong to capture the Centre and see how you could be ousted politically,” she said in a second rally in the same district.
Union home minister Amit Shah has set a target for the BJP to win more than 200 seats in the state assembly, while the TMC had earlier stated that the BJP would find it difficult to reach three digits.
“I understand the people’s pulse because I got into politics when I was young. And if I have understood north Bengal and south Bengal, then TMC will be coming to power with two-thirds majority,” the TMC chief said.