‘Quitting this space’, says poll strategist Kishor after WB win

In an another interview, with news channel NDTV, Kishor stuck to his stand that the BJP was a formidable force in West Bengal.

He said he was confident about the TMC’S victory despite the BJP’S attempt to “build a massive propaganda” that it was winning.

“The result may look like onesided but it was a tough fight. BJP is a formidable force and will be,” he said.

“..., in reality BJP will struggle to cross double digits in #Westbengal,” he had tweeted as early as December last year and his words proved prophetic.

“If BJP does any better, I must quit this space!” he said.

Kishor started working for the TMC soon after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when the BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 seats and the ruling party appeared losing its grip on the state.

KOLKATA: East Midnapore district’s Nandigram — where chief minister Mamata Banerjee contested against her protégéturned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari — emerged as the biggest head-turner among all the seats in West Bengal on Sunday, after Banerjee was defeated by 1,956 votes.

TMC demanded a recount, but the EC rejected this request. “We accept the people’s verdict, but we will move the court against the EC as there were many irregularities during the counting... The verdict does not match the voting pattern in adjacent constituencies and the rest of Bengal,” Banerjee said.

The ECI did not respond to requests for comment.

Adhikari was unavailable for comment. Jay Prakash Majumdar, the state BJP vice-president said, “He put up a brave fight. We congratulate him.”

NEW DELHI: Even as Mamata Banerjee has lost the assembly election in Nandigram to BJP’S Suvendu Adhikari — a loss her party has said she will challenge — she can easily remain the chief minister of West Bengal.

Article 164 of the Indian Constitution lays down the conditions of taking oath as a minister. Article 164(4) says, “A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.”

In other words, Banerjee will get six months to get elected from any Bengal constituency in a by-poll to hold on to the CM’S chair. In 2011, when Banerjee took oath as the CM for the first time, she was a member of Parliament as she didn’t contest the assembly elections. After a few months, she got elected from Bhabanipur.

Congress leader and legal expert Abhishek Singhvi said, “Constitutionally, legally and morally, no one can or should object to Mamata Banerjee becoming the CM and getting elected within six months. If anyone objects, it would not only be churlish but would also betray a lack of knowledge of the Indian constitution.”

The TMC’S win is its third successive one in the state and tightens Banerjee’s hold over the state, something that seemed