In a heart-warming gesture, eleven women from West Bengal's Murshidabad district contributed ₹11,000 for the Lok Sabha election campaign of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who heads the Congress party's state unit and has represented the Berhampore parliamentary seat since 1999.
He will contest the seat again in the upcoming polls.
News agency ANI shared a video of the women handing over the sum to the politician, who thanked them in return. The donors are from Murshidabad's Ranagram village. The women sourced the funds from their household budgets, earnings from agricultural activities, goat rearing, and even a day's wage earned by their spouses.
Separately, ahead of the general elections, the Congress has accused the BJP-led central government of using the Income Tax department to “cripple” the grand old party's electoral campaign. While the principal opposition party did not get any relief in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the Delhi high court, the IT department informed the Supreme Court on April 1 that it would not take any “coercive” action against the Congress till July. In total, the federal agency has asked the Congress to pay ₹3,567 crore in taxes.
{{/usCountry}}Separately, ahead of the general elections, the Congress has accused the BJP-led central government of using the Income Tax department to “cripple” the grand old party's electoral campaign. While the principal opposition party did not get any relief in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the Delhi high court, the IT department informed the Supreme Court on April 1 that it would not take any “coercive” action against the Congress till July. In total, the federal agency has asked the Congress to pay ₹3,567 crore in taxes.
{{/usCountry}}The seven-phase general elections will begin on April 19 and conclude on June 1. The counting of votes for all 543 constituencies will be conducted on June 4. West Bengal, which has 42 parliamentary segments will see polling in all the phases.
In Berhampore, Chowdhury is pitted against ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who has been fielded by the state's ruling Trinamool Congress, while Dr Nirmal Saha is the BJP nominee.
In the previous 2019 parliamentary polls, the Trinamool won 22 seats in the state, while 18 went to the BJP. The Congress bagged two, including Chowdhury's Berhampore and Maldaha Dakshin, where Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury was the victorious candidate.
(With ANI inputs)