BJP, CPI(M) move HC on Kolkata civic poll violence
A day after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Election, two opposition parties, BJP and CPI(M), moved the Calcutta high court alleging rampant violence and electoral malpractices including rigging by the ruling Trinamul Congress.
On Monday, state BJP vice-president Pratap Banerjee and CPI(M) candidate of ward no 2 Debalina Sarkar sought permission to file cases which were granted by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and will be heard on December 23. However the counting for the KMC polls, which witnessed a revised voters’ turnout of 64.5%, is scheduled on Tuesday.
According to the BJP, the KMC polls were not free and fair despite the order of the HC as crude bomb explosions caused injuries while the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) failed to ensure total CCTV coverage in all the polling booths.
During the day the BJP and CPI(M) workers staged protests outside their state headquarters in central Kolkata and the WBSEC office at Rawdon Street respectively over the poll violence. The Congress also took out a rally to the state poll panel’s address.
Outgoing Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim of the TMC alleged, “BJP is resorting to cheap politics by playing the victim’s card instead of fighting the polls. This can not draw people’s attention. BJP’s existence is in crisis because of this style of politics. They could not take the field since they failed to depute agents due to lack of organisation. There was trouble in barely three-four booths. But BJP is blowing it out of proportion to defame Bengal.”