The party said that it announced the names of 20 candidates from among the 26 seats for which it has an alliance with the Left Front
Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF), an alliance partner of the Left Front and the Congress in the State, on March 14 announced the names of candidates for 20 constituencies in the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
ISF president Simul Soren will contest from Haripal in Hooghly district, while Mohammed Iqbal and Nuruzzaman will be the party’s candidates from Entally and Metiabruz, respectively, it said in a statement.
ISF is yet to announce the names of candidates from Canning Purba, Jangipara, Bhangar, Madhyamgram, Haroa and Mayureshwar — the seats it has identified to fight from as a part of the alliance.
The party said that it announced the names of 20 candidates from among the 26 seats for which it has an alliance with the Left Front.
While the Left Front has given 30 seats to the ISF from its kitty, the Congress, from which the Siddique-led party demanded 15 seats, has agreed to give it only eight from its share.
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Assembly Elections 2021 News LIVE Updates: The BJP on Saturday is all set to declare names for candidates for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The meeting will start at 5 pm on Saturday.
The BJP Kerala core group meeting will also take place at party chief JP Nadda’s residence in Delhi before the CEC meeting. Apart from Nadda, Amit Shah, BL Santhosh, K Surendran were also present. This was the meeting ahead of CEC on Saturday.
While Mamata Banerjee has been discharged from hospital on Friday, and left the hospital in a wheelchair, the TMC has already announced an event on Saturday to induct into the party “an eminent personality”. TMC MP Derek O’ Brien, anchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee, and TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay will be present for the event that will be held in Trinamool Bhavan.
Assembly Elections 2021 News LIVE Updates: While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was in hospital, it was learnt that programmes on her schedule for the next two days have been cancelled because of her condition.
Meanwhile, a medical board will re-examine her at 11 am on Friday to take a decision on when she can be discharged.
While a TMC delegation met the Bengal Chief Electoral Officer and insisted the Election Commission cannot absolve itself of culpability in Banerjee’s accident, insisting that maintaining law and order was the EC’s responsibility once the election has been announced, the EC sent a strongly-worded letter to the Trinamool Congress saying it looks “undignified to even respond” to allegations that the poll panel is doing things in the state at the behest of a “particular party”.
Appealing to her party workers and supporters to maintain peace, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was injured after being allegedly pushed by some unknown miscreants in Nandigram, said Thursday that she would resume work possibly in two to three days.
“I’m hoping I can get back to my daily schedule after 2 or 3 days. But owing to the condition of my leg, there would be a problem but I will manage it. I won’t cancel any of my meetings… I might have to travel on a wheelchair in order to do it,” she was seen saying in a video message on Facebook.
“I am appealing to all to remain calm and maintain peace. I ask all to please refrain from doing anything that would cause problem to common man,” Mamata further said.
Explaining her condition from the hospital where she has been admitted to, Mamata said, “I was doing ‘namaskar’ standing on the bonnet of my car, at that time pressure was exerted, because of which my leg was hit by the car. In that condition, whatever medicine I was carrying I had those and soon we left for Kolkata. Since then, the doctors are treating me.”
The chief minister was hospitalised after she was injured during her campaign in Nandigram, from where she also filed her nomination for the upcoming assembly elections. The doctors have said that she has suffered severe bone injuries in her left ankle and foot and mild injuries in her right shoulder, forearm and neck. Although her condition is stated to be “stable”, the doctors are planning to conduct a series of medical tests, including a CT scan, to assess the degree of her injury.
Injured West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee arrives at SSKM hospital in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
With the assembly elections around the corner, Mamata and her party Trinamool Congress have claimed a conspiracy behind the incident while the BJP alleged that this was “tactics to gain sympathy.”
“This is a conspiracy. Some people intentionally pushed me. No administration was there to protect me. The police superintendent was also not there. They basically came here to hurt me. I have decided to return to Kolkata right now,” said Banerjee, who visible appeared shaken and in pain.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee admitted at SSKM hospital after suffering injuries during her Nandigram visit on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has sought a report from West Bengal Chief Secretary Allapan Bandyopadhyay, its general observer Ajay Naik and special police observer Vivek Dubey on the incident by 5pm Friday.
TMC workers protest attack on Mamata
Trinamool Congress supporters took to the streets across the state to protest against the alleged attack, blocking roads, burning tyres and raising slogans blaming the BJP. Protests were held in different areas of Kolkata, including Chetla and Sovabazar. Besides, demonstrations were also held in Howrah, Bankura, Jalpaiguri, Paschim Bardhaman, Paschim Medinipur and North 24 Parganas, among others. The ruling party activists took to the streets and burnt tyres to protest against her political conspirators in Nadigram’s Birulia Bazar area where Banerjee sustained injuries.
A scuffle also broke out between the Trinamool Congress activists and a group of BJP workers in the Birulia area Thursday morning but the situation was soon brought under control.
Police files FIR
Meanwhile, a case has been registered in connection with the attack on the chief minister, following a complaint lodged by TMC leader Sheikh Sufian. The case was lodged under IPC sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), a senior police officer of the Purba Medinipur district told PTI.
Today morning, senior district officials visited the area in Nandigram where the incident happened and also spoke to eye-witnesses, besides looking for any CCTV installed in the area to ascertain the exact sequence of events.
TMC holds EC responsible for security lapse
The TMC has slammed the Election Commission for failing to provide security to Mamata Banerjee and demanded the poll body to take responsibility for the attack. Accusing the EC of acting “as per orders” of the BJP leaders, a three-member TMC delegation after meeting the EC officials in Kolkata today, alleged that the “Election Commission did nothing despite there being reports of a possible attack on Banerjee” adding that “The law and order situation in Bengal was good. But, after the announcement of elections, law and order become the responsibility of the EC.”
“The EC removed DGP of the state police and the very next day she was attacked,” TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said. The delegation has also registered a complaint into the incident and demanded a thorough investigation.
BJP demands CBI probe
BJP’s West Bengal unit has demanded a a CBI probe into the alleged attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that it needs to be seen whether the incident was a “well-scripted drama” to garner votes.
Speaking to reporters, state party president Dilip Ghosh said that the people of the state have seen such “drama” earlier as well. “It needs to be probed what actually happened. How come a Z-plus protectee gets attacked is a matter that has to be looked into. The state should order a CBI probe to bring out the truth,” he said and added that “such drama would not yield any results this time.”
TMC manifesto release postponed
In the wake of the attack on Mamata, the Trinamool Congress has postponed the release of its manifesto for the upcoming elections in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee was scheduled to release the manifesto Thursday afternoon at her residence in Kalighat. However, a senior TMC leader said the manifesto will not released without the CM. “The manifesto release has been postponed for the time being. It will be released after Mamata Banerjee gets well and is back home. Although our manifesto is ready, there is no question of releasing it without her.”
BJP delegation meets Mamata
Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP leaders today visited the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata where the chief minister Mamata is undergoing treatment. However, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who also visited the hospital Wednesday night to check on her health, had to face “go-back” slogans from the TMC supporters.
Several leaders from across the country have condemned the alleged attack on the Bengal CM.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for immediate arrest of the accused, while Bihar’s opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav said that those responsible should not be spared as he asserted that the West Bengal police is now under the control of the Election Commission. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also condemned the incident.
Mamata is pitted against her former confidante Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP some time ago, in the Nandigram constituency that will go to poll on April 1 in the second phase. The eight-phased elections to the 294 seats in West Bengal will be held between March 27 and April 29. The results will be declared on May 2.
Two-term anti-incumbency and a ferocious BJP campaign has put pressure on the Trinamool Congress to come out with a promising manifesto.
Carefully choosing Maha Shivratri to release the manifesto as part of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s efforts to counter the BJP’s Hindutva card, sources say the manifesto will be a list of 10 commitments which the TMC will make.
This is similar to what was done under political strategist Prashant Kishor’s direction in states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The manifesto will be along the lines of ‘Nitish ke Saat Nischay’, ‘Captain ke Nau Nukhte’, ‘Jagan ke Nau Ratnalu’ and ‘Stalin’s Seven Promises’.
One such promise will be about free delivery of ration. This has been an issue since the Left regime as ration shops and delivery have been dens of corruption. Even during the present regime, it was felt that the real beneficiaries were not getting the benefits. Sources say the commitment will talk about free ration delivery every month at doorstep so that people will no longer need to go to ration shops. This would ensure elimination of middlemen and promote delivery.
The focus of the manifesto is expected to be on health, women and jobs too. The BJP manifesto is expected by the weekend and there too, the imprint of Centre’s flagship scheme can be seen in its vision document.
The BJP and TMC are engaged in a fierce face-off ahead of the assembly elections in the state where the BJP is keen to occupy Banerjee’s turf as she puts up a tough battle. A series of desertions from the Trinamool Congress seem to have put Banerjee on the back foot, though she insists that those jumping ship would be taught a lesson by the electorate in the polls.
The chief minister faces her former confidant Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP, in Nandigram. For 50-year-old Adhikari, the battle is one of political survival since he has claimed that he will quit politics if he is unable to defeat Banerjee.
KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Kolkata on International Women’s Day, walking from College Street to Esplanade and tugging at women voters’ heartstrings while urging them not to vote for a party that has made “managing household budgets so difficult”. “How do you feel when you get food rations free but have to spend Rs 900 to cook that food?” she said after leading a women’s rally. “We give free rice. Let him (PM Narendra Modi) give free gas,” she added, tearing into Modi for starting his regular Bengal visits just before the election to vilify the state and “spread canards” about it. She appealed to Bengal’s “mothers and sisters” to give a befitting reply to the “pack of lies” being spread by “Modi babu” and “Shah-da” (Union home minister Amit Shah) on the safety and security of women in Bengal. “Jotoi koro jumla, jabab debe Bangla (Bengal will give an answer to your falsehoods),” Mamata said.
The ruling Trinamool Congress Friday announced its full list of candidates for the upcoming eight-phased Assembly elections in West Bengal. The party would contest 291 seats out of the total 294 while reserving the remaining three seats in Darjeeling for its allies.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would contest from Nandigram seat, vacating her Bhawanipore seat. Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will contest from Bhawanipore seat in her place.
Here’s the full list of candidates announced by the TMC:
After announcing the names of candidates, Banerjee said, “Have faith in me, only TMC can take Bengal to new heights”.
She further said that 23-24 existing TMC MLAs have been dropped due to age and other factors. Given the Covid-19pandemic, those candidates who are more than eighty years of age have been replaced with new and younger face.
KOLKATA: With assembly polls just three weeks away, the BJP, amid an all-out effort to oust Mamata Banerjee from power in Bengal, is also struggling to keep its house in order, as old-timers and new entrants engage in feud over multiple issues, including ticket distribution. The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, had opened its doors wide open for leaders from other parties, as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said. According to a senior BJP leader, the strategy had initially reaped dividends for the saffron camp, which labelled the TMC as a “sinking ship”, but it eventually led to infighting within the organisation and diluted the party’s “fight against corruption”, as several new entrants were found to have graft charges against them. The party recently did a course correction, and stopped the mass induction, but the damage by then was done, with the leadership now having to face the “herculean task” of identifying suitable candidates from 8,000 aspirants for the state’s 294 constituencies, the senior leader said. “We never thought that induction of leaders from other parties could lead to such a situation. Every day we hear reports of infighting between the old-timers and newcomers. We apprehend that post announcement of names (of contenders), discontentment within the camp will grow further,” the BJP leader noted. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, however, insisted that expanding the party’s base was necessary at this juncture. “The BJP is a big family. When your family grows, such incidents do take place. If we don’t take people from other outfits, how will we grow? That said, everyone has to abide by the rules and regulations of the party. No one is above the party,” Ghosh said. Elections in Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest between the TMC and the BJP, will be held in eight phases, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27. Votes will be counted on May 2. According to the saffron camp sources, many state leaders and the RSS — the BJP’s ideological parent – have aired their displeasure over induction of certain leaders from other parties. Thousands of activists from rival parties joined the saffron camp in the last few months during the ‘jogdan mela’ (joining programme) in various districts of the state. As many as 28 MLAs, including 19 from the TMC, and a sitting MP of the ruling camp have switched over to the BJP over the past few months. Prominent among them are heavyweight politicians and former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, Sovan Chatterjee and Jitendra Tiwari. Discontentment in the saffron camp, which had been brewing for a while, first surfaced in September last year, when veteran leader Rahul Sinha was replaced by Anupam Hazra, a former TMC MP, as national secretary. Sinha openly spoke about the “injustice meted out to him to make space for leaders from the TMC”. Union Minister Babul Supriyo and other BJP leaders, including state general secretary Sayantan Basu and state Mahila Morcha chief Agnimitra Paul, had in December opposed Tiwari’s induction into the party. The state BJP leadership had then issued show-cause notices to Basu and Paul for speaking on the issue in public. Tiwari was taken into the saffron fold earlier this week. Several BJP old-timers across the state had objected to the induction of former state minister Syamaprasad Mukherjee, ex-TMC MP Dasharath Tirkey, and rival camp leaders Sukra Munda and Mihir Goswami. In certain pockets, BJP supporters have also come up with posters, which stated that local leaders would prefer backing an Independent candidate to supporting “parachuted leaders from the TMC”. “Old-timers are worried that new entrants from the TMC would hog all the limelight and the efforts put in by them to strengthen the party would go in vain. They are apprehensive that they might not get due recognition, and tickets could slip out of hand,” another senior state BJP leader said. “In East Midnapore, there are 16 seats. Adhikari might pitch for his loyalists who have followed in his footsteps and joined the BJP. The same could happen in Howrah, where Rajib Banerjee wields considerable influence. “If you accommodate them, old-timers will get angry; if you don’t, the loyalists will get infuriated. It’s a precarious situation,” the BJP leader said. Political analysts feel that a lack of strong leadership and over-dependence on central leadership might put the saffron party at a disadvantage. “Once the candidate list is out, it will lead to massive infighting. If the BJP fails to control this situation, it will be Achilles heels for the saffron camp,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty asserted Echoing him, another political pundit, Suman Bhattacharya, said induction of “tainted leaders” from the TMC has diluted the BJP’s main poll plank – ‘fight against corruption’. “The BJP, which had been levelling corruption allegations against TMC leaders, ended up welcoming some of them into the party. This has put a question mark on the BJP’s credibility as an alternative to the TMC,” he added. The TMC leadership — at the receiving end of the exodus — contended that only “rotten elements” have left the party to join the BJP. “The saffron camp has turned into a dustbin of the TMC. It is good riddance for us,” TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said. The opposition CPM claimed that the switchovers only go on to prove that the BJP and the TMC are “two sides of the same coin”. Making light of the claims, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said the BJP is the largest party in the country, and knows well how to tackle such “minor issues”. “People of Bengal have made up their mind to oust the TMC. These instances (of infighting) are minor hiccups, and we know how to tackle it. It won’t be an issue in the long run,” he said.
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she suspects the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP’s poll campaign.
Addressing a press conference at her residence in Kalighat, Banerjee said the Election Commission should not look at the state “through the eyes of the saffron camp” — a reference to the BJP.
“With all due respect to the Election Commission, I want to say that questions are being raised on why elections will be held in so many phases in Bengal while other states will be voting in one phase. If EC doesn’t provide justice to the people, where will the people go,” she said, adding that despite “all these tricks”, she will win the elections.
”I have information from my sources that the poll dates are similar to the ones BJP wanted. Have the dates been announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah? The PM and the home minister cannot misuse their power for the state elections,” she added.
Banerjee said she is the daughter of the state and knows Bengal better than the BJP, exuding confidence about her party Trinamool Congress winning the elections.
The first phase of polling in West Bengal will be on March 27, the second phase on April 1, the third phase on April 6 and the fourth on April 10. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth phases will be held on April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29, respectively.
The EC will appoint two special observers for Bengal and a third can also be sent if required, said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in response to queries on whether enough arrangements are in place for the polls in the state where many have been raising questions about political violence.
Responding to questions on the increased number of phases in Bengal, Arora said when the EC assesses the law and order situation, it is based on several factors. “After all the elections to West Bengal (assembly) in 2016 was in seven phases. The Lok Sabha was in seven phases. So, seven to eight (phases) is not such a big deal because we also have to see the movement of forces, we also have to see the current charges and counter-charges (by political parties),” he said.
“We have to kind of find a way out. That is why we are sending two expenditure observers to Tamil Nadu and two police observers to West Bengal,” he explained.
Asaduddin Owaisi, chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has cancelled his West Bengal visit after Kolkata Police refused to grant permission for his public meeting in Metiabruz area.
Aiming at ‘Ahl-i Hadith’, ‘Barelvi’ and ‘optimistic’ over a share of Deobandi vote share in the upcoming polls – Owaisi had decided to hold his first-ever political rally in West Bengal in Kolkata’s Metiabruz area on February 25.
Speaking to News18.com, state AIMIM president Jamirul Hassan said: “It is unfortunate that Kolkata police didn’t allow Asaduddin Owaisi to hold public rally in Kolkata. We applied for police permission nearly two weeks ago but till today we have not received any response from Kolkata Police.
“TMC government is scared of Asaduddin Owaisi as they feel that they may lose significant numbers of Assembly seats in Bengal. This is the reason they are not allowing us to hold political meetings in Bengal. Few days ago, TMC workers threatened our supporters in Metiabruz area. My supporters are getting calls not to attend any meetings of AIMIM. I would like to tell the TMC workers that more they will try to suppress us, the more we will be stronger,” Hassan said.
Out of nearly 2.50 crore (approx) Muslim population in Bengal – nearly 40 per cent voters are ‘Deobandi’, while ‘Barelvi’ sect consists of 30 per cent voters and Ahl-i Hadith comes third with 25 per cent. Political experts believe that significant number of Owaisi’s supporters in West Bengal belongs to Ahl-i Hadith and ‘Barelvi’ sects, which jointly contributes to nearly 55 percent of voters among Muslim populations in the state. And this is the area where Owaisi is aiming at to make a ‘decisive’ entry in Bengal’s politics.
The party has already appointed three persons in-charge of Bengal to look after the poll affairs and they are former Mayor of Hyderabad Municipality Mohammad Majid Hussain, State AIMIM president Jamirul Hassan and AIMIM national spokesperson Asim Waqar.
Hussain is already in Bengal and he will inaugurate AIMIM’s first party office in Park Circus area in Kolkata. On Thursday, Hussain will interact with various political leaders of smaller regional parties and also a media interaction on TMC’s ‘undemocratic way’ to stop AIMIM from entering Bengal.
Meanwhile, BJP’s national president JP Nadda’s ‘Poriborton Yatra’ at Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas on Thursday was also postponed due to ‘police permission issue’.
BJP leader Sabyasachi Datta said, “There is some police permission issue and there the ‘Poriborton Yatra’ was postponed.”
Reacting on hurdle before ‘Poriborton Yatra’, BJP MP Arjun Singh tweeted, “The Barrackpore city police has cancelled the permission for today’s ‘Poriborton Yatra’ on Ghosh Para from Kanchrapara to Barrackpore on the instructions of Mamata official. Yatra is postponed, we will move to court and resume the yatra. Rest programs of national president JP Nadda is on.”
Injured West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee arrives at SSKM hospital in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee admitted at SSKM hospital after suffering injuries during her Nandigram visit on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. (PTI Photo)