Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday alleged that the recent West Bengal Assembly elections were rigged through a “multi-layer mafia operation” and said Mamata Banerjee became Prime Minister when “the elections were neutral”, after meeting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief at her residence in Kolkata.
“When the elections were neutral, Didi (the elder sister) became prime minister. This time there was a multi-layered mafia operation. The BJP, the Election Commission of India, and their secret people, [and] “The central paramilitary forces conducted the elections,” he said outside Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat after meeting her.
Pledging support for the leaders of the All India National Development Alliance (INDI) bloc, Yadav said, “I can say that leaders of all parties will come together. We have to work together to save democracy.”
Yadav claimed that the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, in which his government was ousted, were a “trial run” for the BJP. “What the BJP did in UP was a trial run. They learned from it and stole all the votes here. I watched the UP poll closely. We complained against many officers but neither the Director General of Police nor any of the officers were transferred. But here, all the officers were transferred,” he said.
“What the political workers are facing here has not happened anywhere. In UP too, the BJP used central forces and threatened our election agents, removing them from polling stations. The BJP’s vote share reached 77%. They changed the entire electoral process,” he added.
In the two-stage polls in Bengal, the results of which were announced on May 4, the BJP won a record 207 out of 294 seats, while the All India Trinamool Congress got just eighty. Even the outgoing chief minister lost her Bhabanipur seat in Kolkata to the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, whose name is considered her successor.
Flanked by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and party member Derek O’Brien, Yadav said, “They cannot tolerate Didi because she represents the masses. BJP leaders are male chauvinists. They cannot tolerate women. They did not allow a woman to become the chief minister of Rajasthan. In another state, they made another woman only partial chief minister.”
“I hope the people of this nation will rise up after what happened in Bengal. It has been heard that the officers who were brought here from other states were promised rewards if they succeed in helping the BJP win,” he added.
Mamata, on May 5, refused to resign as chief minister, saying her party won the elections but the counting was rigged jointly by the EC, central paramilitary forces and the BJP. She alleged that TMC polling agents were assaulted and thrown out of counting stations, and that she was also kicked and pushed when she entered the counting center for the Bhabanipur seat.
On Thursday, Yadav challenged the EC to release CCTV footage from all counting centres.
“BJP members are afraid of CCTV cameras. Let the EC release videos from vote counting centres. If Supreme Court hearings can be shown live, why can’t CCTV footage of Bengal elections be released? This will strengthen democracy,” Yadav said.
Reacting to Yadav’s allegations, Bangladesh BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “Mamata Banerjee was defeated by the people of Bengal. This ruling was against her misrule and corruption.”
