Kolkata, Oct 9 (PTI) The CPI(M) on Friday alleged the BJP achieved emphatic victories in Rejinagar and Nandigram bypolls through “vote loot” and termed it the ruling party’s “platinum model”, in an allusion to the “diamond model” linked to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his parliamentary constituency of Diamond Harbour.
As Left candidates ranked fifth in Rejinagar and a distant third in Nandigram, the CPI(M) flayed the BJP and the Election Commission, alleging the whole poll process was “defiled” and turned into a farce.
Claiming that irregularities in the by-election ensured the BJP’s victory, CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Mohammed Salim said Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had announced the margin of victory even before polling took place.
“This is not a victory, but vote loot. This is now the platinum model,” he said in an insinuation to the “Diamond model” that has been disparagingly used by TMC’s rivals to refer to Abhishek Banerjee apparent political invincibility in his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP on Friday steamrolled its rivals in Nandigram and scored a surprise win in Muslim-majority Rejinagar, barely four months after ending TMC’s 15-year rule.
Salim claimed that under the stewardship of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, lawful and constitutional electoral processes have been hijacked. “People’s voting rights have been snatched through the SIR of electoral rolls,” he said, reiterating the CPI(M)’s demand for Kumar’s resignation.
He alleged that the Election Commission, responsible for holding free and fair elections, has “defiled the whole poll process” in the interest of the ruling party. “Instead of asking the CEC to resign, the government is working to protect him,” he alleged.
About the unprecedented security clampdown in the national capital on the eve of the Cockroach Janta Party’s call for protest at Jantar Mantar against the CEC, Salim said, “An undeclared emergency is in place to stop the protests in Delhi on October 10. The administration is trying to keep the national capital out of bounds for protesters.”
On the attack on the house of CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on Thursday, he said, “No one is safe in the state, not even Suvendu Adhikari.”
He claimed that Adhikari is “riding a tiger and it is difficult to get off” and said, “The BJP and RSS began by intimidating minorities. Now, neither the minorities nor the majority are safe in the country.” PTI AMR NSD
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