The BJP and the Left Front, the main opposition parties in the state, have accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of rigging the polls, though no one was killed in the 144-ward polls in Kolkata. At least 20 per cent of the 4,959 booths in 144 wards have been looted and clashes between the ruling party and the opposition have erupted.
The BJP has done everything from allowing ordinary people to vote, massive fraudulent ballots, disabling closed-circuit (CCTV) cameras inside booths, bombings and attacks on opposition candidates by allowing boys from outside the area to cast their votes, all of which could lead to allegations of anarchy. Against the Trinamool Congress.
It is alleged that the Trinamool was able to cast its vote voluntarily due to the absence of central observers and central forces in the election to provide civic services to the city of Kolkata. The Trinamool has denied the allegations and accused the BJP of counter-vote terrorism.
The BJP has gathered its allegations from multiple booths and brought them before the media. In many cases, the BJP has been able to present still and video footage of what kind of anarchy has taken place in the media and handed it over to the State Election Commission.
The same accusation leftists. The CPIM (Communist Party of India Marxist) party booth workers told Prothom Alo that the wards they have been winning have no chance of winning.
In the 2015 Kolkata Pur Corporation elections, the Left got 15 seats. This time too they expected a good vote because the BJP is not in a good position. But after today’s election, they think that possibility is no more. In many places, candidates and activists of the Left Front were attacked on Sunday. Shikha Pujari, a CPI (M) candidate, said the Trinamool Congress had prepared the list by putting the names of the dead in the voter list in large numbers and had cast all those votes. That’s what made him happy. One vote is given by another, this vote has no meaning.
In some of the booths where votes have been looted, the BJP has published a long list of protests from one o’clock in the morning. BJP state president Sukant Majumder said, “Democracy has been mocked by the joint efforts of the Trinamool Police and the State Election Commission.” We have been forced to take to the streets in protest of the dirty game that has been played in the name of democracy. “
Meanwhile, the BJP also informed the Election Commission that a bomb had exploded in North Kolkata and one candidate, Meena Devi Purohit, had been physically abused. However, the list of BJP’s allegations is so long that the BJP leadership has doubts about how far the commission can go. A state BJP leader told Prothom Alo that if the central government did not intervene, nothing would happen. The State Election Commission will do nothing and will remain silent on this mountain of allegations. The election will be recognized and the Trinamool Congress will rule the city.
Trinamool Congress leader and deputy chief whip of the party in the assembly Tapas Roy said all the allegations were baseless. Firhad Hakim, a former mayor of Kolkata and now an important minister in the state, described the vote as “peaceful”.
