West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said she would not resign from her post, despite the election results released on Monday showing a massive victor for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"I won't resign... I haven't lost", Banerjee said on Tuesday, while speaking to reporters. The outgoing CM alleged large-scale rigging, voter list manipulation and violence, claiming “100 seats were stolen” in what she termed a “murder of democracy.” She accused the Election Commission of India and central forces of bias during polling and counting.
The TMC secured 80 seats in the 294-member House, while the BJP swept to power with 207 seats. Banerjee also lost from Bhabanipur.
She alleged deletion of lakhs of voters and intimidation of party workers, adding a 15-member panel will probe irregularities. Calling the results a “black day,” she said the party remains united and will “fight back.”
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Quoting Banerjee, ANI reported that Banerjee claimed support from INDIA bloc leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, vowing to strengthen opposition unity.
Lashing at the ECI, Banerjee said that nearly 90 lakh names were deleted from voter lists and accused the Election Commission of India and central forces of bias and collusion.
She said TMC workers were intimidated and announced the formation of a 15-member fact-finding committee to probe the alleged irregularities, adding that the party would “bounce back.”
She also claimed she was attacked while travelling to a counting centre and termed the results a “black day” for democracy.
Banerjee said, “Sad to say, CEC became the villain of this election to loot the democratic rights of the people and to loot the EVM. Can you tell me that after voting EVM has 80-90% charge? How is it possible? Two days before the election, they started arresting our people. They started raiding everywhere.”
“They changed all IPS and IAS officers. They selected people from their party and BJP played the game directly with the Election Commission. It is a betting between the BJP and the Election Commission. We fought against all machinery. PM and HM are also involved, direct interference. They deleted 90 lakh names in the SIR. When we went to court, 32 lakh names were included...They played dirty, nasty and mischievous games. I have never seen this type of election in my life.” she said.
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