Mamata Banerjee refuses to resign, says election verdict a conspiracy

Violence reported across West Bengal after Assembly results as BJP secures majority, while Opposition leaders question the mandate and Election Commission's role

A day after the Assembly election results were announced, political leaders from the Opposition camp accused the Election Commission of working at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she would not go to Kolkata’s Lok Bhavan to submit her resignation as West Bengal’s chief minister, alleging that the poll verdict was “not a people’s mandate but a conspiracy.”

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said its chief minister and council of ministers in Bengal would take oath on May 9, the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. 

 

The BJP also announced that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be its central observer for the election of its legislative party leader, its putative chief minister, in West Bengal, and appointed his Cabinet colleague J P Nadda as the party’s central observer for the election of the legislative party leader in Assam.

 

 

The BJP won 207 seats out of 293 (of the total 294) in Bengal, and the BJP-led alliance in Assam won 102 of 126 seats. In Bengal, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari is being considered the frontrunner to be the next chief minister. He defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021 and now in Bhabanipur, and was the leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly.

 

In Tamil Nadu, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has requested the party’s support to form the government in the state. The TVK emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats, 10 short of the majority mark. The Congress has won five seats.

 

Congress state in-charge Girish Chodankar said the party’s local leadership had wanted an alliance with TVK, which could have won 180-190 seats out of the total 234.

 

Chodankar said several Congress workers were upset with the party’s decision and either contested or worked for the TVK during the campaign. The DMK — the leader of the alliance of which Congress was a constituent — won 59 seats. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday phoned Vijay to congratulate him. Vijay could be sworn in at a public ceremony later this week, sources said.

 

People in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Province hailed TVK’s win, and leaders of political parties also congratulated him. Vijay on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the TVK’s newly elected legislators and paid floral tributes to Periyar E V Ramasamy, B R Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, Velu Nachiyar, and Anjalai Ammal, whom the party regards as its ideological leaders, at its headquarters.

 

A TVK leader said the party was confident of getting the requisite support from smaller parties that were part of the DMK- and AIADMK-led alliances to attain the majority mark.

 

In Kolkata, Banerjee told a press conference that she would not go to Lok Bhavan to submit her resignation, claiming that the verdict was not a genuine public mandate but the result of a conspiracy. She alleged that the Election Commission worked “for the BJP”.

 

According to Article 164(1) of the Constitution, the chief minister is appointed by the Governor and holds office at the Governor’s pleasure, who can dismiss the chief minister and the state government. The current Bengal Assembly expires on May 7, paving the way for the formation of the next government, TMC leaders pointed out. The outgoing chief minister submitting their resignation to the Governor is part of democratic tradition, and is not mandated by the Constitution. The Bengal Governor is R N Ravi.

 

Banerjee said several leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc had reached out to her to express solidarity following the poll outcome. She added that she would now focus on strengthening the Opposition alliance at the national level. The TMC won only 80 seats, ending her 15-year rule in Bengal.

 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asked his party to stop “gloating about TMC’s loss”. “They need to understand this clearly — the theft of Assam and Bengal’s mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy,” he posted on social media. “Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India,” he said.

 

BJP spokespersons pointed to a video clip of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, in which he is purportedly heard saying that Rahul repeatedly said Mamata Banerjee had made a big mistake, and that if she had discussed matters with him, the result could have been different. Of the outgoing TMC government’s 35 ministers, 22 lost, including Banerjee.

 

Incidents of arson and vandalism at TMC offices were reported across West Bengal on Monday as BJP workers celebrated their landslide victory in the state.

 

Police said TMC offices in Kolkata’s Tollygunge and Kasba, in Baruipur, Kamarhati, Baranagar in the suburbs, and in Howrah and Baharampur in the districts were vandalised by mobs since Monday afternoon.

 

BJP leader Rahul Sinha rejected the charge that any of his party’s workers were involved in the vandalism, saying it might be the handiwork of rival factions within the TMC venting their frustration at party leaders following the election results.

 

Congress leaders countered the Assam BJP leadership’s accusations of Muslim appeasement, noting that 18 of its 19 MLAs-elect in the state are Muslims. The Congress said that of its 664 MLAs across the country, 78 per cent are Hindus, 12 per cent Muslims, and 10 per cent belong to other religions, reflecting its representation of all communities.