Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, campaigning ahead of the April 29 polling day, raised concerns over the security of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) while asserting that her party would cross the 100-seat mark in the second phase.
“After the first phase of voting, I heard that wherever voting has taken place, they (the saffron ecosystem) are taking criminals wrapped in blankets to seize EVMs,” she said at one of her several campaign stops in her backyard of Bhabanipur. “I advise our workers to keep an eye on all the voting machines in their areas.”
“The BJP is scared. Know that.... Even in the second phase, we (the Trinamool Congress) will cross a century,” she added, implying that her party had won 100 seats in the first phase on April 23.
Directing her fire at the allegedly compromised Election Commission, she accused it of “deliberate negligence” regarding power cuts and security lapses during and after voting, during the ongoing election process.
“When someone comes to loot EVMs by carrying out a (power cut), wearing blankets and masks, that is what you should be looking out for, and stopping. Why are you not taking action? Why are (power cuts) happening? We do not have load-shedding here. That means it proves that you have some other intention,” she said, warning her party and voters to remain vigilant against sabotage.
“The BJP has sent placed selected officers everywhere. Remember, they will leave after May 4,” she stated.
She publicly warned on Saturday night that the BJP would resort to horse-trading and other malpractices deemed part of Operation Lotus if Trinamool fails to secure a two-thirds majority here.
In the 294-seat House, that number is 196.
She cited the way the BJP felled democratically elected non-NDA governments in Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh as evidence of the saffron camp’s strategy, allegedly spearheaded by Union home minister Amit Shah.
“We are going to form the government this time as well. But the BJP could resort to horse-trading if we do not get a two-thirds majority,” she had said at Bhabanipur, framing the 142-seat April 29 phase as an existential contest, and implying that a simple majority of 148 or so will simply not do. “My request to you, please vote for TMC in the remaining 142 seats... so that (horse-trading) possibilities are
eliminated.”
This unsparing poll summer, Bengal’s politico-electoral landscape has hardened into a theatre of raw survival for the complex ethos of the pluralist state.
Mamata has kept warning people that the Hindutva brigade was cobbling together a post-poll survival manual that comprises plans for the infamous Operation Lotus — the alleged Shah-mastered political strategy to fell democratically elected non-NDA governments by inducing defections through fear or favour.
Earlier this month, in rallies for Bankura and East Burdwan constituencies, the Trinamool supremo had alleged that the notorious Operation was already in motion. She had said BJP operatives were aggressively soliciting support from her ministers and candidates, anticipating a majority deficit.
Her message to the electorate is clear: the vote is not merely for a representative; it is a firewall against poaching.
The Trinamool ecosystem knows the math. They need 148 seats to govern, but Mamata has set a target of 226, though sources say she would be pleased with 180-190 seats to ensure immunity from below-the-belt tactics from the BJP.
However, the BJP remains undeterred. Leaders like Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have dismissed Mamata’s anxiety as a sign of imminent defeat, claiming that the first phase of polling signalled a mandate for change. Shah has said that he expects the BJP to bag at least 110 seats from the 152 already polled. Mamata disputes this, projecting a lead in 130-odd of those seats.
With counting scheduled for May 4, Bengal remains on a knife-edge.