Lauding the Election Commission for conducting peaceful elections in West Bengal, BJP president J.P. Nadda on Thursday said the high voter turnout in the first phase of polls in West Bengal is indicative of the defeat of the Trinamool Congress.
“Khela shesh hoye gyache [the game is over]. The high polling percentage shows that people want a change,” Mr .Nadda said at a meeting at Dhanekhali in Hooghly district.
A few days ago, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had claimed the BJP will win 26 of the 30 seats that went to the polls in the first phase. The phase held across 30 seats on March 27 recorded 84.63 % polling. West Bengal usually records a high polling percentage.
At the public meeting, the BJP president said BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has accepted the challenge of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram who decided to contest from the seat. “If the Chief Minister goes to fight her own Minister, then who is the greater leader?” Mr. Nadda asked.
The BJP president who participated in a roadshow in Pursurah Assembly constituency later in the day also raised the issue of an 82-year-old woman, mother of a BJP supporter. The BJP has been alleging that the attack on the party supporter and his mother on February 27 resulted in the death of the elderly woman on March 28. The TMC leadership has accused the BJP of playing politics over the death of the elderly woman.
Violence erupted at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas when BJP candidate from Bijpur Subhrashgshu Roy was filing the nomination. A person was detained in connection with the clash and a firearm was seized. Mr. Roy, son of party leader Mukul Roy, alleged that he was heckled while filing the nomination at the office of the Sub-Divisional Officer in Barrackpore.
