A furious Mamata Banerjee launched into an unprecedented attack against the Election Commission and alleged them to be acting on BJP's behest. In first such action in India's electoral history, the Election Commission on Wednesday ordered campaigning in nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 PM on Thursday, a day before its scheduled deadline, in the wake of violence between BJP and TMC workers in Kolkata.
In a hurriedly-convened press conference, Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar said it was for the first time that such an action has been taken using constitutional powers of the poll panel.
The Election Commission (EC) also ordered the removal of Principal Secretary (Home) Atri Bhattacharya and Additional Director General, CID, Rajiv Kumar from their postings in West Bengal.
Responding to this action, Mamata Banerjee said, "I had to call this urgent presser as this is an emergency situation.This is not an ECI direction, it's BJP's direction." West Bengal CM said, "The state’s police is being kept aside. And only central forces are being deployed.Amit Shah created riots here through his roadshow. They broke down the Vidyasagar's bust".
Banerjee further said, "We did not hire people from outside for our own padyatra. People of Bengal will not tolerate. Action should be taken against Amit Shah They have insulted the people of Bengal Even during Babri Masjid incident, situation wasn’t this bad".
According to West Bengal CM, "Amit Shah threatened ECI. Bengal is not UP, Bihar and Kashmir. Whatever violence broke out it happened because of central forces." She claimed, "Modi is scared of Bengal and me. How does he know how many seats he will win? Is he tampering the EVM? Why are they scared of Rajeev Kumar? Is it because he is pursuing all cases against Mukul. This decision is unprecedented. Why wasn’t Amit Shah show caused?"
Ascribing motive to EC's decision to allow campaigning till 10 PM on Thursday, "They have kept the deadline till tomorrow. As PM has two rallies here tomorrow. This is unethical, biased. We filed so many complaints. Action wasn’t taken in a single complaint". She accused EC of rewarding the guilty. Mamata also said," SC says will not interfere with ECI. If SC also doesn’t interfere, then where will we go?".
According to West Bengal CM, " SP Diamond Harbour shunted out as Abhishek is contesting from that seat. You didn’t let Hardik Patel contest from Gujarat. The one who slapped Arvind Kejriwal is a BJP man, he was in Kolkata There were so many outsiders.I want to ask ECI, why don’t you showcase PM and Amit shah Isn’t the restriction on spending for all?"
She further said, "Modi has insulted me because I counter him. Don’t I have the right to speak up? Tomorrow take out candlelight rallies and with black flags tomorrow to protest against this I will not succumb under this pressure."
She also said, "They can only send me to jail, or kill me. But I will give them a befitting reply.Let PM cross 100 seats first.Rajeev Kumar is a bright officer." Mamata said, "BJP President PA’s was caught with money. PM’s chopper is not checked. When Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are coming, their choppers are not checked."
The EC's action came a day after parts of Kolkata witnessed wide-spread violence during BJP president Amit Shah's massive road show in Kolkata. A bust of 19th century Bengali icon Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was also vandalised during the violence, "This is for the first time such a measure has been taken using the EC's constitutional powers. But this is not going to be the last," Kumar said, referring to curtailment of campaigning period.
The EC also expressed "deep anguish" over the vandalisation of the bust and hope that the culprits will be arrested soon.
The EC invoked Article 324 of the Constitution to curtail the campaigning for the last phase of the election on May 19.The constituencies where campaigning has been curtailed are -- Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar.
The order on curtailment of the campaigning was signed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and fellow commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra. The vandalisation of Vidyasagar's bust and clashes during Shah's road show in Kolkata on Tuesday triggered a fierce blame game between BJP and the Trinamool Congress.
Shah, at a press conference here, alleged that Mamata Banerjee's TMC was involved in vandalising the bust and unleashing violence during his roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday as part of a "conspiracy" to blame the BJP.
On its part, the TMC released videos to claim that "BJP goons" damaged the statue of Vidyasagar and said the videos not only establish what the saffron party did, but proved that Shah is a "liar" and a "dhokebaaz" (betrayer).
With PTI input
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