West Bengal: Ahmed Patel questions EC's decision

Ahmed Patel

Congress leader Ahmed Patel came down heavily on the Election Commission after it cut short campaigning period in West Bengal.

The senior party leader questioned the poll body's decision and asked if the situation in the state was severe, why did the commission not ban campaigning with immediate effect.

Taking to Twitter, Patel asked, "If the situation in Bengal is so severe that campaigning must be stopped, why is EC waiting until tomorrow? Is it because PM has scheduled rallies tomorrow?"

"Isn't it unprecedented that EC claims it's an unprecedented situation in West Bengal but yet is waiting for PM to complete his public meetings?" he tweeted.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address election rallies in Mathurapur and Dumdum.

On Wednesday, the Election Commission decided to cut short the campaign period in the state after the violence was reported during BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow on Wednesday.

"No election campaigning to be held in nine parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal, namely Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, South and North Kolkata, from 10 pm tomorrow till the conclusion of polls," Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar told media.

Campaigning was originally scheduled to end at 5 pm on Friday for the nine constituencies that will go to polls on May 19.

BJP leader Mukul Roy on Wednesday said that his party will obey the Election Commission's decision to cut short the campaign period in West Bengal by a day for the final phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Roy said, "There is a political crisis in Bengal. EC takes special decisions when it feels the need. No violence was reported anywhere in the country during these Lok Sabha elections other than Bengal. EC took a decision that within 24 hours campaigning should be ended. We, the opposition will suffer the most. Yet, we will obey it."

Roy termed the violence at BJP president Amit Shah's Roadshow 'criminal conspiracy' by West Bengal Chief Minister.

"Yesterday's incident was a criminal conspiracy by her (Mamata). The Chief Minister must answer. She said that there was no violence in Bengal. Did she forget Panchayat elections? Remember how people were stopped from casting their vote," he said.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies