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West Bengal Assembly Polls
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said no rallies celebrating the victory of candidates will be allowed in the state on Monday as the counting of votes for 293 assembly seats was underway. He said the counting is going fine and no violence has been reported in the state. "We have directed all DMs not to allow any victory rallies today. These victory processions will be allowed from tomorrow. We don't want any post-poll violence and appeal to everyone to stay calm and maintain peace," the CEO said. Political parties need to take permission from local police stations to bring out victory rallies, he said. "There has been no incident of violence. Any poll-related death was reported from anywhere in Bengal," Agarwal said. The poll panel was looking into complaints that agents of different parties were unable to reach the counting centres, special observer Subrata Gupta told reporters earlier in the day.
The Supreme Court on Saturday said no further order was necessary on the TMC's plea challenging the Calcutta High Court's dismissal of its petition against an Election Commission circular on the deployment of central government personnel for vote counting in West Bengal. A special bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said the Election Commission (EC) can choose counting personnel and its April 13 circular cannot be said to be incorrect. The poll body said the circular is very clear that there will be a mix of central and state government employees and the apprehension of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of any wrongdoing is misplaced. The EC assured the court that the circular would be implemented in letter and spirit. At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the TMC, said the circular was dated April 13, but they came to know about it on April 29. The bench, which held a special sitting, said that the EC can choose counting personnel from only one pool
The TMC on Saturday said it has filed a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging unauthorised sorting of postal ballot covers at an EVM strongroom in Kolkata. TMC workers, who have been camping outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, alleged that eight trunks of postal ballots were brought in at 4 am and were taken to a room, which has no CCTV coverage. "We have been demanding that every single millimetre of space where EVMs and postal ballots be under CCTV surveillance. But as these trunks were taken inside, it was clear that they were taken to a room not under CCTV cover. Why should this happen," a TMC member asked. Voting machines from several assembly segments of northern and eastern Kolkata are stored at the strongroom at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra. As TMC activists were demonstrating, BJP's Shyampukur candidate Purnima Chakraborty reached the spot with her supporters, escalating tensions. Both sides started shouting slogans as police stood between them, attempting to b
Voting began on Saturday at 15 booths in two assembly constituencies in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, where the Election Commission ordered repolls a day ago, following reports of electoral malpractices, an official said. The repolls were ordered in 11 polling stations of Magrahat Paschim assembly constituency and four in Diamond Harbour. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, the official said. Polling in these two assembly constituencies was held in the second phase of the state elections on April 29. The repoll order was based on reports received from returning officers and observers of the two constituencies and "material circumstances", the Election Commission official said. The BJP had alleged rampant electoral malpractices in certain polling stations of both the assembly seats under the Dimanod Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The EC had deputed its special observer, Subrata Gup
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a virtual meeting with all counting agents of the party on Saturday afternoon, two days ahead of the counting of votes polled in the assembly elections, a senior party leader said. The meeting, scheduled for 4 pm, will be attended by the counting agents from the 291 Assembly constituencies, where the ruling party fielded its candidates. The Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) contested the remaining three seats in the Darjeeling hills. At the virtual meeting, the leaders are expected to brief the counting agents about their duties to ensure there are no lapses during the counting process on May 4. "The most important instruction to the agents would be to not leave the counting centres till the calculations are officially over and winning certificates handed over to the victors," the senior TMC leader, not wishing to be named, said. "All