Bengal's main Opposition party BJP and the CPM have moved Calcutta High Court separately against alleged electoral malpractices and intimidation by the ruling Trinamul Congress during the elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation held on Sunday.
The hearing of the case has been scheduled for Thursday, December 23. Results for the 144 wards of the CMC will be declared on Tuesday, December 21.
The CPM nominee from ward 2, Deblina Sarkar, sought the court’s permission to file a petition which was granted. A separate plea was moved by the state BJP leader, Pratap Banerjee.
“The court had instructed that peaceful polling had to be ensured. Bombs were hurled. The court had asked for CCTVs to be installed in all the polling booths, but the state poll panel ignored it. In most of the booths, the CCTV cameras malfunctioned. We have submitted the relevant documents to the court,” said a BJP leader.
On Monday afternoon, leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikary shared a video of his neighbourhood in East Midnapore’s Contai where loudspeakers were blaring with a song: Aamrai Trinamul Chhatra Parishad (We are Trinamul Chhatra Parishad).
“People of West Bengal, please look at the dirty culture of TMC. Yesterday they couldn’t stop me with all their might using thousands of police personnel. So, today they have plummeted even lower, playing songs on loudspeakers in front of my residence without any authorisation or decency,” said Suvendu.
On Sunday, police had surrounded Suvendu’s Salt Lake residence where he was present with some legislators while polling was on. BJP legislators staying at the Kyd Street MLAs hostel were also locked inside while Trinamul backed goons allegedly went on a rampage at polling booths.
“My busy schedule doesn’t allow me to stay at home, but my 83-year-old father Sisir Adhikari and 74-year-old ailing mother became targets of this nuisance. Mamata Banerjee must remember what goes around comes around. Culture conscious people of West Bengal would judge your conscience,” Adhikary said.
The Left Front has been staging a demonstration at the state election commission office at Sarojini Naidu Road, while protest marches have been scheduled across the state for Monday and Tuesday.
The Left Front and Congress are squatting outside the office of the state election commissioner Saurav Das demanding repoll in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation polls.
"We had submitted over 300 complaints to the state poll panel. Our candidate Purabi De Biswas' agent's face was bloodied. Was that staged?" asked Kallol Mazumdar, convenor Left Front's Calcutta unit.
Both the Left and Congress leaders said they will go for a larger movement against Sunday's poll process.
During Sunday's elections to the Calcutta corporation, the CPM had alleged with specific details about wards 101, 102, 109, 110 where polling agents of candidates were forced out of their booths. Similar complaints poured in from the northern tip of the city. In ward 36, Congress nominee Nandan Ghosh alleged CCTV cameras installed inside the booths were not working.
