Lucknow: Rallying behind Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Bahujan Samaj Pary (BSP) supremo Mayawati charged Thursday that the West Bengal Chief Minister is being targeted as part of a conspiracy to divert attention from failures of the Modi government.
“It is now clear that under the present Chief Election Commissioner, Lok Sabha polls are not being held in a totally free and fair manner,” the former Uttar Pradesh CM told reporters here.
The Election Commission (EC) curtailed campaigning in West Bengal under pressure of central government, she further charged.
The EC ordered Wednesday campaigning in nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10.00pm Thursday, a day before its scheduled deadline, in the wake of violence between BJP and TMC workers in Kolkata.
Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar had said that it was for the first time that such an action has been taken using constitutional powers of the poll panel.
The EC’s action came after parts of Kolkata witnessed widespread violence during BJP president Amit Shah’s massive road show in the city. A bust of 19th century Bengali icon Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was also vandalised during the violence.
The EC invoked Article 324 of the Constitution to curtail the campaigning for the last phase of the election, May 19. The West Bengal constituencies that go to polls Sunday are Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata (South) and Kolkata (North).
