Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused central forces of trying to “seize” electronic voting machines (EVMs) in areas that went to polls in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections on April 23.
“I heard about two incidents where the power supply to two strong rooms where EVM machines were kept was cut off. Central forces accompanied the criminals to those places to arrest the EVM machines. The faces of these people were covered. I am surprised that the CEC [Election Commission of India] She is silent,” Banerjee said at a rally in her constituency of Bhabanipur.
Bhabanipur is among 142 of the 294 seats that will go to the polls in the second and final phase of polling in seven districts of south Bengal, including Kolkata, on April 29. The electoral campaign for the second phase will end at six o’clock on Monday evening.
Manoj Kumar Agarwal, the state’s chief electoral officer, assured that all electronic voting machines are safe. “The strong rooms are kept under lock and key, and have been double-checked.”
Banerjee made this claim about the EVMs at successive rallies in Bhabanipur till Sunday night. She spent the day attending roadshows and rallies in Bhabanipur, where she takes on BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lead the BJP’s final roadshow on Monday in Banerjee constituency. The TMC trailed the BJP in four of the eight municipal constituencies during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bhabanipur.
Banerjee attacked the BJP, saying it was saying that it does not allow Durga Puja in Bengal. “The fact is that Durga Puja in Kolkata attracts tourists from all over the world and provides employment opportunities to many people. When I started providing financial assistance to community clubs to organize puja, [BJP] “I went to court,” she said.
She said the BJP alleged that it had turned Kolkata into a slum. “The poor live in the slums. They work honestly. You cannot insult the poor,” Banerjee said.
She works for people year-round. “The city has developed a lot before your eyes. There is no power shortage. There are no bad roads. Waterlogging is no longer a big problem during monsoon because our civic body has repaired the sewerage system,” Banerjee said. She said that the BJP will not come to power.
