TMC celebrate the party’s win in Bidhannagar civic polls. The BJP on Monday demanded repolling for the Asansol and Bidhannagar civic elections, alleging that votes were rigged and people were restrained from voting.
“The results of four municipalities were as expected. The exception is Siliguri. It was unexpected. The BJP would have formed a board if people in Asansol would have been allowed to vote peacefully,” said BJP Spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya at a press conference at the party office in Kolkata on Monday. Alleging “massive rigging”, Bhattacharya said the BJP has fought the civic polls on three fronts: against the administration, the State Election Commission and TMC.
“As per our observations, we want the poll process of these two municipal corporations — Asansol and Bidhannagar — to be cancelled. The Court had trusted the State Election Commission, which stated that there was no need of central forces and that they will compete the voting process fairly with the state police, but what we saw was a murder of democracy,” said the BJP leader.
The BJP, meanwhile, moved the Calcutta High Court on Monday, praying for deployment if central force during the remaining civic polls 108 local bodies in 20 districts on February 27. The matter is likely to be taken up by the court on Tuesday.
“The margin we saw in Bidhannagar isn’t possible in a fair democratic way. In a multi-party democracy, is it possible for a candidate to get 94 per cent of votes?” questions Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya further questioned that when no queue was seen outside polling booths in Bidhannagar, how it could record a 40% voter turnout by noon.
The TMC on Monday registered a landslide victory in civic polls to Bidhannagar, Siliguri, Chandannagar and Asansol.
Of the 41 seats in Bidhhannagar, the TMC bagged 39 with the Congress and an independent candidate winning one each. In Asansol, the TMC won 91, followed by BJP’s seven,
Congress’s three, CPI(M)’s two and one by an independent candidate.
“There is one ward where turnout was 15%. We all know that most of Salt Lake stays abroad. We suggest a random survey: take one block and see how many people have inked fingers. There is no meaning of such an electoral process. We don’t say that if votes had been cast, we would have formed the board. This result is clearly impossible,” added Bhattacharya.
The BJP leader claimed that TMC has won the civic polls by “terrorising and intimidating people”.
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