ARAMBAGH: In a startling claim, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Mondya said that central forces are working for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by asking voters to choose the saffron party in West Bengal. Mamata alleged that the voters in Maldaha Dakshin and Balurghat constituencies, where polling is underway, are being asked by central forces to cast their votes in favour of the BJP.
The West Bengal CM said that the TMC has informed the Election Commission about this. "I have got information that the central forces are sitting inside booths in Englishbazar in Maldaha Dakshin and asking voters to vote for the BJP. They do not have the right to do such thing. We have informed the Election Commission about our reservations regarding this," Mamata was quoted as saying by PTI.
"Why are they (central forces) doing it? The police cannot enter a polling booth," she added. Mamata remarked that the mandate of the central forces is to come to a state during the elections and leave after conducting the election in co-operation with the state force.
Coming down heavily on the BJP for allegedly using the central forces for its political gains, the TMC chief said that the ruling party cannot use the central forces. She added that the BJP had done the same during Assembly election in the state in 2016.
"You cannot use the central forces. You did the same thing during the 2016 (assembly) elections in West Bengal. I have not forgotten it," Mamata told PTI. The West Bengal chief minister said expressed confidence that the voters in the state will teach an apt lesson to the BJP.
The polling for 117 Lok Sabha seats spread across 15 states and Union Territories started at 7am on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha election. Over 18 crore 85 lakh voters, including 96598912 male, 86226460 female and 7043 third gender voters, will decide the fate of nearly 1640 candidates in the third phase.
The big names to watch out for in third phase are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, Union minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in Uttar Pradesh' Bareilly and BJP's Varun Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh' Pilibhit.
