Kolkata: West Bengal’s opposition BJP on Saturday wrote to the State Election Commission (SEC) asking it to cancel the Kolkata Municipal polls held during the day and hold the exercise afresh with adequate security.
“We pray to you to cancel the entire election in all the booths and announce a fresh date for a fresh re-poll with the presence of adequate number of CAPFs (Central Armed Police Force) whose deployment should be under your control”, president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit Rahul Sinha said in a letter to SEC.
In the letter, Sinha claimed the polls were violent and “highly rigged”, with police being “hand in glove” with Trinamool “goons”.
“Police, who were supposed to protect the democracy, were found hand in glove with the ruling goons all over Kolkata. Democracy was butchered in Kolkata under your leadership,” Sinha said.
Earlier in the day, Sinha accused the TMC of “unleashing terror to intimidate voters, polling agents and opposition parties”.
“I have no words to condemn (the incidents which happened during polls)… Several of Trinamool ministers roamed around booths supervising the violence,” Sinha told mediapersons here.
TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, however, said polling was “peaceful, free and fair”.