Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she was \u201cnot worried about Nandigram but worried about democracy\u201d, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not allowed free and fair elections in the state today. Trinamool Congress has been alleging since morning that the BJP has been looting votes in several booths of Nandigram, where Mamata Banerjee is contesting against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BJP candidate here (Suvendu Adhikari) has resorted to hooliganism, threatening our workers and voters since last evening. Abu Taher, our leader, was threatened, among others,\u201d she said, after coming out of booth number 7 in Boyal area of Nandigram, where she remained stuck for close to two hours, as BJP workers shouted Jai Shree Ram slogans outside. Police had a tough time containing the crowd in which BJP and Trinamool Congress workers clashed among themselves.<\/p>\n
Banerjee was taken out after a huge contingent of police came to the area and escorted her out of the booth. By then, she had called Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and briefed him about the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not blame the Central paramilitary force personnel. They are under fear, and carrying out instructions of the Home Minister of the country,\u201d Banerjee said. She was also sarcastic about the \u201csilence\u201d of the Election Commission. \u201cI am really sorry to say that the Election Commission of India is silent, and supporting the BJP candidates, blatantly\u201d she said, adding that the Trinamool has made several complaints, but the EC has not acted on them. \u201cThis is harming democracy in our country. I have not seen a worse election than this one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Banerjee said that she would “still” win the election from Nandigram, where \u201c90 per cent of people have voted for us\u201d. \u201cPeople will give a fitting reply to this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Banerjee also raised questions on why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting Bengal on every election day and addressing people and influencing elections. \u201cIs it not violation of the election code of conduct?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
The Bengal CM also asked the BJP leaders and the Home Minister to take note of the fact that BJP workers were molesting women journalists in their rallies. \u201cPlease ask your leaders to control your members, I have never seen an election like this before,\u201d Banerjee said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien wrote to the Election Commission alleging \u201cbooth capture\u201d by BJP workers in Nandigram. “Huge mob of BJP workers have entered booth no.s 6, 7, 49, 27, 162, 21, 26, 13, 262, 256, 163, 20. BJP workers attempting to take control of EVM & rigging the booth,” he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she was \u201cnot worried about Nandigram but worried about democracy\u201d, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not allowed free and fair elections in the state today. Trinamool Congress has been alleging since morning that the BJP has been looting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":14542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[99,387,57,582,513,709,583,46],"adace-sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-14541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-bengal","tag-amit-shah","tag-assembly-elections-2021","tag-bjp","tag-cover-story","tag-nandigram","tag-suvendu-adhikari","tag-top-story","tag-trinamool-congress"],"yoast_head":"\n