Left Front chairman Biman Bose leads a protest march against violence during Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation elections in Kolkata, yesterday.
IANS/Kolkata
A day after the West Bengal State Election Commission postponed vote count indefinitely in three civic bodies following mounting protests over allegations of violence and rampant malpractices, the ruling Trinamool Congress yesterday threatened to step up its protest unless the counting process began.
Following sustained agitation by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging irregularities and violence, State Election Commissioner Sushanta Ranjan Upadhyay on Sunday announced putting on hold indefinitely the counting process.
The counting for the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Asansol Municipal Corporation and wards of the erstwhile Bally Municipality now merged with the Howrah Municipal Corporation, was scheduled to be held tomorrow.
Led by part secretary general Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool leaders held a demonstration at the state Election Commission demanding the counting process be held as scheduled.
“The scheduled date for counting was October 7 and we are holding this demonstration demanding the counting process to begin. So long as the date for the counting is not announced and peoples’ democratic rights are restored, we will continue our demonstrations,” Chatterjee, also the state education minister, said.
“Tomorrow we will take out a rally in the city denouncing the CPM’s politics of violence and disruptions. If by then, the Election Commission doesn’t make any announcement about initiating the counting process, the rally will then head towards the State Election Commission,” he said.
Chatterjee also warned the Raj Bhavan and the SEC against helping out the BJP.
“Those who are providing assistance to the BJP, be it Raj Bhavan, the ‘Dili Durbar’ or the election commission, they better be beware,” he warned.
Earlier, the Trinamool described the Raj Bhavan as the BJP’s “virtual state headquarters”, and accused Governor K N Tripathi of “needling” the Mamata Banerjee-led state government.
“Under Tripathi, the Raj Bhawan has become a hotbed of intrigue and virtually the state headquarters of the BJP. Almost every day, party leaders and ideologues seem to meet here to discuss new ways of needling the Mamata Banerjee government,” Trinamool spokesman Derek O’Brien said on a Facebook post.
“The latest excuse is the unfortunately and condemnable violence, limited to a few pockets, that accompanied municipal polls last week,” said the Rajya Sabha member, a day after Tripathi denounced the violence and called for the State Election Commission to initiate action.
