Trinamool Congress may use state power to scare voters, BJP tells Election Commission

Our Political Bureau

New Delhi/Kolkata: BJP leaders on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission alleging that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is using state machinery to drum up support ahead of the by-polls.

Banerjee is contesting the by-poll from Bhabanipur in Kolkata district.


Earlier in the day, the EC had served a notice to Bhabanipur BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal for violating Covid-19 norms while filing her nomination paper on September 13.

A delegation of BJP leaders, led by party general secretary Arun Singh, submitted a four-page letter to the EC in New Delhi alleging that TMC is using "unfair means to induce and intimidate" voters.

"Given the fact that it is a by-election, and a sitting chief minister is contesting, the ruling party is preparing, as always, to use all unfair means to induce and intimidate the voters," the letter alleged. "There are serious apprehensions in the minds of common voters that there might be repeat and replay of such violence."

The BJP delegation's letter also alleged that Firhad Hakim, a senior minister in the West Bengal government, is trying to incite communal violence.

The party demanded that the EC should order the removal of Banerjee's posters from all government sites in the KMC area.

In the EC's notice, Tibrewal was asked by the Bhabanipur's returning officer to submit a written reply as to "why permission to hold further political campaigns should not be stopped with immediate effect".

The officer also wrote that Tibrewal had violated the EC guidelines on the number of vehicles in the procession and the provision regarding no procession before or after the filing of nomination.