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Election Commission seeks report on attack on Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram
The Election Commission on Wednesday sought a report from West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was attacked by four or five people.
The Election Commission on Wednesday sought a report from West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was attacked by four or five people. The EC has also sought a report from Vivek Dubey, special police observer and Ajay Nayak, special general observer, West Bengal.
On Wednesday, Mamata filed her nomination from the Nandigram seat where she will be contesting against her former confidante Suvendu Adhikari. The 'clash of the titans' has made Nandigram the most-watched seat ahead of the election, but Wednesday's incident took the political tempers of the seat a notch higher.
The incident took place at around 6.15pm when Mamata was about to leave Birulia after she offered her prayers at a temple. "I was standing outside my car with the door open. I was praying from there on seeing a temple. Few people came around my car and pushed the door. The door hit my leg," she said.
She said the push was deliberate and there were no policemen around. As she complained of leg pain, her Nandigram stay was curtailed and she was brought to Kolkata for treatment at SSKM Hospital. A green corridor was created between Kolkata and Purba Medinipur to facilitate the unhindered return of her convoy.
Banerjee said she was deliberately pushed by a group of youth, after which she complained of chest pain. There were no policemen around, the CM claimed.
After being attacked, she was carried by her security personnel to the backseat of her SUV from the front seat. A white cloth was also wrapped around her injured leg.
Mamata Banerjee is protected with Z-plus security and the attack seems "unbelievable" to many BJP leaders. "I think I will refrain from commenting. All of you are intelligent and have covered (reported on) such things all your life. Our didi is perturbed. These are signs of a defeated party and a defeated candidate. She will lose from Nandigram and there will be change in Bengal," Union minister Piyush Goyal said.
BJP leader Arjun Singh said it was a drama for sympathy. “Is it Taliban that her convoy was attacked? A huge police force accompanies her. Who can get near her? Four IPS officers are her security in-charge and must be suspended. Attackers don’t appear out of no where, they have to be nabbed. She did drama for sympathy,” Singh said.
Nandigram will go to the elections on April 1, in the second phase of the eight-phase elections. The first phase will be held on March 27. The results for the 294 assembly seats will be announced on May 2.
