It seems that all is not fine in the West Bengal polls. Even a layman understands how important West Bengal polls are for any political party. It is one of the key states in Eastern India, however the two major national political parties – BJP and INC have not been able to sit in its throne lately. It was the Left Government that had the honour until recently when Mamata Banerjee led TMC powered through its secretariat and snatched the reigns from Buddhadeb’s hand. Now when the election is underway in the state all reports are rife with allegations and counter allegations. On one hand, where the BJP is complaining about the high handedness and hooliganism of the TMC workers at the behest of Banerjee, on the other, the TMC has been alleging the security forces to be hand in gloves with the saffron brigade at the behest of Amit Shah.
In midst of all this it looks like the Election Commission of India has been sandwiched between the parties and trying its best to ensure that the polls are fair and peaceful. It has charged the TMC supremo of misdemeanour by appealing to all Muslims voters to go against the BJP. According to ECI it is a direct violation of Representation of the People’s Act and has asked Banerjee to clarify her communal connotation within 48 hours. Meanwhile, the BJP camp is very happy with the development as they believe that this must be a sign that TMC is losing its minority votes this time around. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi even went a step ahead and said that the BJP would never make such a communal remark even with the Hindus. Nevertheless, what is more interesting is the fact that the ECI did not take this step based on the reports submitted by its own officials but rather over a complaint received from a BJP delegation. Notably, the delegation alleged that on April 3, Banerjee appealed to the Muslim voters to not to let their votes be split among different political parties during the election rally at Tarakeshwar in Hooghly. This was just after a day that TMC had lodged a complaint to CEC of West Bengal alleging huge amounts of cash coupons being distributed among the voters by the BJP workers.
Given all this, one must remember that the major onus lies on the Muslim voters to decide who gets power in West Bengal. Though a majority of Muslims are angry at TMC for neglecting them while in power, yet their votes do not seem to be going to either BJP, AIMIM or ISF. This only means that the BJP will now have more trouble in dividing these votes, which may be its key to forming the government. With the Muslim votes intact it seems that Banerjee may still have the upper hand in the state elections. As for the rest Congress and Left parties are rallying behind a united force to oust both the BJP and the TMC off power and regain West Bengal. Having said this, it is clearly out in the open that the BJP and TMC are leaving no stones unturned to capture as many seats as possible. Given this fact it becomes more imperative for the ECI to deal with the elections with a more rigid and firm plan so that during the results it is the people’s mandate that wins over every political strategy.