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Mamata meets Governor after landslide victory


“The party will take a final call on whether we should move the court, but I believe that we should move the court,” she added…reports Asian Lite News.

A day after her party’s landslide victory in the Assembly elections, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed to the people of West Bengal to maintain peace and harmony and stand beside the people during the ongoing Covid crisis.

Banerjee also met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday evening to stake claim to form the government in the state.

“I am going to the party legislature meeting now where the decisions regarding oath taking, date of the first Assembly and the decisions regarding the formation of the ministry will be taken. I wanted to meet the Governor at 7 pm and he has consented. I shall go to the Raj Bhavan and fulfil the required formalities,” Banerjee told the media at her residence in Kalighat on Monday.

Clad in her trademark white saree and chappal, the Chief Minister said, “I want to appeal to all the people of Bengal to stay in a peaceful manner. Bengal is a place of harmony, peace and culture and we should not forget that. I know that the BJP and the central forces have tortured us a lot, but this is the time when we should stand beside the people and help them out of the grim Covid situation.”

All India Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee meet with Governor Jagdeep Dankar at Rajbhavan on Monday.03.05.2021 (photo: Pallav Paliwal)

At a time when the Trinamool Congress is showing possibilities of becoming a key player in national politics, Banerjee, however, decided to skip the question on the possibility of her joining national politics.

Mentioning that all the national leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda , Naveen Patnaik, Akhilesh Yadav and Amarinder Singh, called her to congratulate her on the electoral success, Banerjee said, “There is a lot of time to think on this. This is a time when we should fight Covid and I am only focused on that. The Prime Minister didn’t call me. That doesn’t matter though. He might be busy, but he had called me before.”

“At the same time, I would like to remind the BJP that what it is doing is not correct. One of the supporters has been killed in East Burdwan. They are torturing our supporters in Cooch Behar,” she said, adding, “I also want to tell the police that some of them have worked in favour of the BJP. But this is the time when we should work together to save people from Covid.”

When asked whether she would move the court on recounting in Nandigram, a visibly furious Banerjee read out an SMS sent to her where she claimed that the RO of Nandigram wrote that if he ordered for recounting, then he would be murdered and his family will be ruined.

“I shall not say who sent me this, but if this is the situation then democracy is under threat. The Election Commission declares someone winner and then it is reversed. The server was down for four hours,” she said.

“The party will take a final call on whether we should move the court, but I believe that we should move the court,” she added.

All India Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee meet with Governor Jagdeep Dankar at Rajbhavan on Monday.03.05.2021 (photo: Pallav Paliwal)

Fuming over the EC for its alleged partisan attitude, Banerjee said, “What the Election Commission has done cannot be supported. BJP’s seats would have been less than 50 but because of the Commission’s contribution, it reached this figure (77). There were two observers who were BJP supporters and it was because of them that there was no recounting.”

“It was our demand that all the EVMs, VVPATs and postal ballots should be kept in safe custody else they would be tampered. Our supporters are sitting on a dharna in Nandigram and unless our demand is met, it will continue. We want an assurance from the Commission in writing,” she said.

Also Read-Exit polls indicate hat-trick for Mamata

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India News Politics West Bengal

75.06% turnout in peaceful 7th phase of polls

WB

The overall voting percentage was 75.06 per cent with Murshidabad recording the highest turnout at 80.30 per cent, according to election commission data…reports Asian Lite News

The penultimate phase of the eight-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal spanning across five districts with 11,376 polling stations ended peacefully on Monday.

The data released by the Election Commission till 5 p.m. showed that the overall voting percentage was 75.06 per cent with Murshidabad recording the highest turnout at 80.30 per cent.

According to the data, Murshidabad, where nine constituencies went to the polls, recorded the highest turnout of 80.30 per cent, while the four seats in South Kolkata reported the lowest turnout of 59.9 per cent.

Malda with six constituencies recorded 78.86 percent polling, while South Dinajpur reported 80.21 per cent turnout in six constituencies. The nine constituencies in West Burdwan recorded 70.24 per cent polling.

West Bengal polls (Twitter)

As far as individual constituencies are concerned, Raninagar in West Burdwan district recorded the highest polling of 84.35 per cent, while Rashbehari in South Kolkata recorded the lowest turnout of only 53.93 per cent.

Among the four Assembly constituencies in the state capital, including Kolkata Port, Rashbehari, Bhowanipore and Ballygunge, Rashbehari had the lowest turnout of only 55.9 per cent, which was around 66.9 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Bhowanipur, from where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had won last time, recorded a turnout of 60 per cent, which was 66.8 per cent in the 2019 general elections.

Also read:BJP targets division of non-BJP votes for Bengal polls

Similarly, Kolkata Port and Ballygunje recorded a voter turnout of 64 per cent and 59.5 per cent, which was 64.2 per cent and 66.2 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, respectively.

As far as vote share is concerned, Trinamool had an edge over the saffron brigade in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Polling Personnel at the Receiving Centre under 282 Kulti Assembly Constituency of Paschim Bardhaman District.(Twitter)

Despite a strong BJP wind in the state that helped the saffron party win 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, Trinamool was successful in holding back its forte in these four seats in South Kolkata.

The Assembly seat-wise analysis shows that Trinamool’s Mala Roy maintained her lead in three of the four Assembly constituencies. Rashbehari was the only constituency where BJP candidate Chandra Bose was able to win over his Trinamool counterpart.

Major Trinamool Congress, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool youth wing leader Abhishek Banerjee, state Power Minister Shovondeb Chattopadhayay and Urban Development Minister and former Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim, exercised their franchise on Monday.

Banerjee, a resident of Harish Chatterjee Street in South Kolkata, exercised her franchise at a polling booth in Mitra Institution school at around 3.50 p.m. Sitting on a wheelchair, she briefly paused before the photojournalists while coming out amid shouts of ‘Didi, Didi’, before boarding her car. She also flashed a victory sign towards the cameras.

However, former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is a resident of Palm Avenue and a voter in the Ballygunje Assembly constituency, failed to cast his vote owing to poor health condition.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

A few incidents of scuffle were reported from the Asansol area, where Trinamool candidate Saayoni Ghosh claimed that BJP activists tried to jam the booths in the constituency. The allegation was dubbed as baseless by BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul.

In the Jamuria constituency, Left Front candidate Aishe Ghosh alleged that her party agents were stopped from entering the booth by Trinamool workers, a charge which has been denied by the ruling party.

As many as 742 arrests made by the police during the elections with 12 arrests in specific cases and 11 for violation of Section 144. The rest of the arrests were all preventive. Also, 57 bombs were recovered, including 22 in Murshidabad and 35 in Kolkata. Kolkata South had 380 sensitive booths.

Both Murshidabad and Malda had a previous history of poll violence and as per the Election Commission, there were 1680 sensitive booths in Murshidabad and 1,120 in Malda.

“Not a single bomb exploded anywhere in the state during the seventh phase of elections, which was the most peaceful among all the phases conducted so far. The police and the central forces have done excellent work,” said Jagmohan, ADG

Also read:Penultimate phase of polling underway in Bengal

Categories
India News West Bengal

Huge increase in Trinamool MLAs’ assets

Mamata

Assets declared by candidates in the recent Bengal Assembly polls show that nine of the 10 MLAs logged highest spike…reports Asian Lite News

A detailed analysis of assets declared by candidates in the West Bengal Assembly polls show that nine of the 10 MLAs who had the highest increase in the last five years are from the ruling Trinamool Congress. Though party MLAs amassed huge property, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, interestingly, had a negative growth in the last five years.

In a detailed study made by Association for Democratic Reforms on the acquisition of wealth by MLAs, West Bengal Minister of State for Labour Jakir Hossain, who was recently injured in a bomb attack at Nimtita station in Murshidabad, tops the list with 184 per cent rise in assets in respect to his assets declared in 2016.

In 2016, Hossain declared in his affidavit that he had net assets worth Rs 28.04 crore and in 2021, these amounted to a whopping Rs 67.22 crore, registering a net increase of Rs 39.18 crore. The Trinamool MLA from Jangipur in Murshidabad declared that he makes his earnings from business.

State Disaster Management Minister Jawed Ahmed Khan had a net increase of property worth Rs 15.03 crore in the last five years. The declaration made by Khan shows that in 2016, he had assets worth Rs 17.29 crore but these rose to Rs 32.33 crore within a span of five years, registering an increase of 87 per cent.

Similarly Urban Development Minister and former Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim had an increase of 123 per per cent in his assets in the last five years. Hakim, who makes his earning as a businessman, declared assets worth Rs 5.97 crore in 2016 but they now amount to Rs 13.34 crore, registering an increase of Rs 7.36 crore in the last five years.

Subrata Saha, an MLA from Jangipur and a minister without portfolio, has reported an increase of Rs 6.37 crore in the last five years. In 2016, his assets amounted to Rs 1.64 crore and these rose to Rs 8.02 crore, registering an upward swing of 38 per cent in the last five years.

Javed Ahmed KhanCabinet Minister – Civil Defence & Disaster Management, GoWB(Twitter)

Similarly, state Correctional Administration Minister Ujjwal Biswas and state Food Minister Jyotipriaya Mullick had an increase of 234 per cent and 316 per cent, respectively, in their assets in the last five years.

Biswas’ assets touched Rs 7.30 crore from Rs 2.18 crore showing an increase of Rs 5.11 crore since 2016. Similarly, Mullick’s assets show a whopping increase of Rs 4.77 crore from Rs 1.51 crore in 2016 to Rs 6.28 crore in 2021.

Also read:BJP targets division of non-BJP votes for Bengal polls

Interestingly enough despite the growth of property of her ministers and MLAs, the asset declaration of Chief Minister Banerjee shows that in the last five years, her asset had grown negatively. Though in 2016, she had assets worth Rs 30.45 lakh, in 2021, these has come down to Rs 16.72 lakh, showing a net decrease of Rs 13.72 lakh. In these five years, her assets have shown a negative growth of 45 per cent.

TMC(Twitter)

The only BJP candidate who figures in this first ten is party candidate from Bidhannagar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas, Sabyasachi Dutta.

A former Mayor of Bidhananagar Municipal Corporation, Dutta, who joined BJP from Trinamool Congress in October 2019, has seen his wealth increase by 229 per cent in the last five years. According to Dutta’s affidavit in 2016 when he contested the seat on a Trinamool ticket, he declared assets worth 2.35 crore and in 2021, according to his declaration, he owns assets worth Rs 7.75 crore, exhibiting a net increase of Rs 5.39 crore in the last five years.

Also read:Mamata cries foul in Bengal polls

Categories
India News Politics West Bengal

BJP targets division of non-BJP votes for Bengal polls

The Congress, Left and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) of cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui are part of the Samyukta Morcha…reports Asian Lite News

To ensure division of non-BJP votes among the ruling Trinamool Congress and the ‘Samyukta Morcha’, the saffron party will start attacking the Congress in the remaining fives phases of Assembly elections in the state.

The Congress, Left and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) of cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui are part of the Samyukta Morcha. The BJP strategists believe that a triangular contest in the last five phases will benefit the party, while a direct fight with the Trinamool may go against it.

“Division of non-BJP votes among the Trinamool and the Congress-led alliance will help us improve our position. On the other hand, consolidation of non-BJP votes only in favour of the Trinamool will help the ruling party in Bengal,” a senior BJP leader said.

Another senior saffron party leader explained that the last five legs of Bengal Assembly polls will be crucial, and consolidation of all non-BJP votes in favour of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool will not do the BJP any good.

Bihar BJP workers .

“Division of non-BJP votes among the Trinamool and the Congress or its alliance partners will brighten up our chances,” he said.

To divide the non-BJP votes among the Trinamool and the Congress-led alliance, the saffron party is all set to launch an attack on the grand old party.

“Congress has its presence in many areas where polling will be conducted in the coming phases. They also have sitting MLAs there. Shifting of Congress votes in these seats to the Trinamool in a close contest will strengthen the ruling party and we have to stop this,” the BJP leader said.

Also read:BJP’s Assam manifesto focuses flood

As per the strategy, the BJP will now start attacking the Congress-led Samyukta Morcha so that the voters start taking them seriously.

“Non-BJP votes going to the Samyukta Morcha will weaken the Trinamool. Also, Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui might corner the minority votes for the alliance which Mamata Banerjee is eyeing,” he said.

The BJP also believes that now senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may campaign in West Bengal after the completion of elections in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, something which they haven’t done till now.

“The likely presence of Gandhi siblings in West Bengal will also give us an opportunity to attack the Congress which will ultimately benefit us,” a BJP leader said.

The BJP has identified a few areas that will go to the polls in the remaining phases where the Congress has presence, like Hooghly, Howrah, Noapara, Krishna Nagar, Raiganj, Malda, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

“We have to stop shifting of Congress votes to the Trinamool camp in these areas,” a Bengal BJP leader said.

Also read:BJP promises Rs 6,000 for TN fishermen