Mamata Banerjee Accuses Federal Government and Election Commission of Bias in Bengal Polls

On Friday, the opening day of Bengal's seven-phase general election, chief minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the federal government and the Election Commission of India for what she saw to be their partiality.

Speaking at a rally in Suti in Murshidabad on Friday afternoon, the Trinamool president launched a scathing attack on the saffron ecosystem, charging the EC and central forces of working along with the Centre to unjustly tip the political balance in Bengal in the BJP's favor.

"I value the service provided by all of our core forces and will always be there for them. Nonetheless, what is occurring now is unusual. They are being exploited as party cadres for the first time, which I categorically denounce," Mamata said.

"I would like to inquire of the Election Commission of India, why are only central forces participating in the Cooch Behar election, while none of the state forces are?" She enquired. "How will the public expect unbiased polls?"

In 5,814 voting places for Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar, there were about 56.26 lakh voters. The EC designated 746 voting places as sensitive out of them.

In Cooch Behar, Nirvachan Sadan deployed 112 central force companies and 4,500 state police troops; in Jalpaiguri, he deployed 75 central force companies and 3,077 state police people; and in Alipurduar, he deployed 63 central force companies and 2,454 state police officers.

"The BJP wants complete control. This is the same mentality that allowed them to dare to remove over 150 Members of Parliament in order to pass 39 laws last year while they were away, the speaker stated.

They intend to take the entire country in this direction. They are holding the most unjust elections, not free and fair, she continued. "They made the whole country feel like a jail. The people will have to choose between saving this country and allowing it to fall apart.

Trinamool, led by MP Abhishek Banerjee, a nephew of Mamata, has been criticizing the EC for its purported plans in Bengal throughout the last several weeks.

The whole bench of the commission has been charged by Abhishek of harboring prejudice against non-BJP parties.

"I want to be very clear: this commission and the BJP-appointed Bangla-birodhi (anti-Bengal) commissioners are both compromised. In a media encounter on April 8, Abhishek said, "The commission that was once our pride has now bowed down to the BJP and sold its spine."

Trinamul said that the central security forces had pushed polling agents at booth 2/139 at Patakamari Junior Basic School in the Mathabhanga-II area of Cooch Behar outside the booth on Friday, during the polling of the three north Bengal seats.

Poll workers are often permitted to sit inside the booths. However, the central troops forced them to sit outside by using arrogance. It's not fair. There is no place for the central powers in it. We have alerted the relevant authorities," a Trinamul official stated.

In response to the Cooch Behar riots, Udayan Guha, the minister of development for north Bengal, also confronted the central soldiers.

"EC mobilized the core troops well in advance of the polls. When BJP cadres were assaulting our people, what were they doing? Guha said.

The BJP asserted that while the central troops performed admirably, several state police officers behaved at the Trinamool's request and improperly mobilized the forces. "The central forces performed admirably, but in the upcoming phases, we anticipate them to be more proactive on the ground. Voters should be able to travel freely from their homes to the polling places. A BJP state general secretary named Jagannath Chattopadhyay stated, "We would also want re-election in some booths.

According to reports, the BJP filed 421 complaints against Trinamool for malpractices with the EC on Friday, with 303 of the allegations coming from Cooch Behar alone.