Mamata Want Resign of Amit Shah over Cooch Behar deaths

West Bengal Election LIVE updates:

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday called for the resignation of Union Interior Minister Amit Shah for the shooting by central forces at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar, killing four people. Banerjee, speaking at a public meeting in Baduria in North 24 Parganas, said that he will go to Cooch Behar after attending the rallies and visit the place where the central forces opened fire during the elections.

Asking people to remain calm, Banerjee alleged that central police officers shot dead people who were in a queue to vote and demanded that “Shah should resign” because of responsibility for the incident “which is cowardly, in cold blood and without precedents”.

The Electoral Commission (EC) on Saturday ordered the postponement of the polls at polling station 125 of the Sitalkuchi Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district, according to an interim report by special observers. Four people died in the area while elections were being held for the fourth phase of the Assembly election.

“Detailed reports were requested from them and from the Electoral Director before 5 pm today,” the EC also said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed an electoral rally in Siliguri on Saturday, lamented the deaths due to political violence in the Cooch Behar district. The fourth phase of the surveys is underway in the state.

“What happened in Cooch Behar is very sad. My condolences go out to the families of those who died, I ask for their passing. Didi and his thugs are disturbed to see the support of the people for the BJP. She has lowered herself to this level as You can see. ”His chair slipped.

“I would like to make it clear to Didi, TMC, and their thugs that their customs will not be allowed to function in Bengal. I urge the Election Commission to take strict action against those accused of the incident in Cooch Behar,” he said.

He added: “Didi, this violence, the tactics of instigating people to attack the security forces, the tactics of obstructing the voting process will not protect you. This violence will not protect you from the 10 years of your bad government.”

A first-time voter was reportedly shot dead on Saturday in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, where the fourth phase of the Assembly elections is taking place amid sporadic incidents of violence. PTI reported.

An 18-year-old voter, Ananda Barman, was reportedly shot to death by criminals outside booth number 85 in the Pathantuli area after clashes broke out between activists of the ruling TMC and the BJP. The culprits, who have not yet been identified, managed to flee, the report added, citing officials.

The incident sparked violence in the area when bombs were dropped, prompting central forces to carry batons to control the situation, police said. “We have received information about a person who was shot outside a voting booth in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar. We have requested a report from the micro-observer,” said an Election Commission official.

Furthermore, PTI also cited police sources as saying that four people had died after CISF allegedly opened fire after being attacked in Sitalkuchi.

Speaking to an Elections Commission official by phone, Chatterjee said she was attacked by locals at polling place number 66 in Hooghly. He also claimed that media professionals were attacked during the incident.

One person was killed when criminals opened fire on people waiting in line to cast their vote. The deceased identified as Ananda Barman (18).

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that BJP thugs created an uproar in front of several polling stations in the Cooch Behar district – Sitalkuchi, Natalbari, Tufanganj, and Dinhata – and prevented TMC agents from entering the booth, ANI reported.

More than 1.15 million voters will decide the fate of 373 candidates, including Union Minister Babul Supriyo and West Bengal ministers Partha Chatterjee and Arup Biswas for 44 seats in the fourth phase of the Bengal elections.

Forty-four segments of the Assembly in five districts, two in North Bengal and three in South Bengal will go to the polls on Saturday 10 April.

Voting for 44 constituencies in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections in eight phases of 2021 will begin today at 7 a.m. M. And it will continue until 6:30 p.m. M. COVID-19 precautions and strict security arrangements.

The fourth phase of the high-octane elections in West Bengal is being held in 44 districts covering Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts in North Bengal and parts of the 24 South Parganas (Part III), Howrah (Part II ), and Hoogly (Part II) in the southern part of the state, and will seal the electoral fates of 373 candidates from the ruling TMC, the BJP-led NDA, the Congress-led Sanjukt Morcha, as well as independents.

Elections will be held for nine assembly constituencies in Howrah, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar, nine in Coochbehar, and ten in Hooghly.

Of the 1,15,81,022 voters who vote today, 58,82,514 are men, 56,98,218 women, and 290 members identify as the third gender.

Some of the high-profile leaders, who are vying for these 44 seats include BJP firebrand and Union Minister Babul Supriyo and West Bengal ministers Partha Chatterjee and Arup Biswas, among others.

While Supriyo will take on MLA Arup Biswas sitting in Tollygunj, known to be the heart of the Bengali film industry on the southern outskirts of Kolkata, Partha Chatterjee, who is also the secretary-general of TMC, will take on film actor Srabanti Chatterjee of the BJP at the Behala West headquarters to return to the Assembly for the fourth consecutive term.

Also in the fray on Saturday is TMC traitor Rajib Banerjee, a former minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, who is competing from Domjur in Howrah district for a BJP ballot.

Two other BJP MPs Locket Chatterjee and Nisith Pramanik are also competing from the Chuchura and Dinhata seats in the Hoogly and Cooch Behar districts, respectively.

Former Bengal Ranji captain Manoj Tiwary is racing from Shibpur on a TMC ticket.

Ratna Chatterjee, the wife of the former city mayor and fire minister Sovan Chatterjee, who left Mamata Banerjee’s TMC to join the BJP for a short period, faces actress-turned-BJP politician Payel Sarkar in the seat by Behala Purbo.

The Sanyukta Morcha comprising the Left Front, Congress, and the ISF have submitted mostly young faces for the fourth phase of the vote. The leader of the CPI (M), Sujan Chakraborty, is one of the few veterans selected by the left for this phase of the elections.

Bengal has already voted for 91 seats in three phases held between March 27 and April 6. Polls in the previous three phases saw sporadic incidents of violence with members of all political parties, including some TMC candidates, facing attacks from rival camps.

Taking into account the incidents of violence, the Electoral Commission has deployed at least 789 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in 15,940 polling stations spread over 44 electoral districts.

Each CAPF company is made up of 100 employees, including civil servants.

The largest deployment of 187 CAPF companies will be in Cooch Behar, which has witnessed sporadic incidents of violence in the run-up to the elections, including an attack on BJP state chairman Dilip Ghosh, allegedly by TMC supporters.

The fourth phase of the elections in Bengal saw various leaders of all political parties soliciting candidates from their respective parties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Interior Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned for the BJP candidates in various places by celebrating public meetings and tours.

Mamata Banerjee and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, an MP from Lok Sabha, held several public meetings in many of the constituencies that were to vote on Saturday.

While the BJP leadership targeted the TMC government, its supreme and chief minister Mamata Banerjee, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, accused them of corruption and “appeasement policies” and claimed that their “khela shesh hobe“(the game will end).

Modi and Shah promised voters the early implementation of Ayushman Bharat’s scheme, Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi, as well as the implementation of the seventh scale of pay commissions for state government employees if they vote for power in West Bengal.

Banerjee, his nephew, and party MP Abhishek were among the star TMC activists who stepped up their attack on the BJP-led central government over recent hikes in gasoline, gasoline, and diesel prices, as well as plans to divest a large number of plants. Government-managed power supply units.

During the campaign, Banerjee also accused the central police forces of harassing and intimidating voters in Bengal and urged voters to “gherao” in case security agents prevented them from voting.

The fierce TMC leader during a public demonstration in Tarakeswar in the Hooghly district on April 3 also appealed to the minority community not to split their votes. This prompted the Election Commission of India to issue a Notice of Cause to Banerjee for demanding votes on communal land.

In reaction to the ad, the TMC boss had said that he would not change his position even if he had been served 10 notices. He also accused the EC of bias, asking why no complaint has been filed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi “who talks about Hindu and Muslim (vote banks) every day.”

On Friday, the Electoral Commission had also notified Mamata Banerjee for her “completely false, provocative and immoderate statements” against the central forces performing electoral functions in West Bengal, prompting her to declare that she will continue to do so until “the CRPF ceases to do so. work for BJP “.

It should be noted that while elections for 44 seats will be held in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, the campaign will continue in the 159 electoral districts of the state that are scheduled to vote in four phases on April 17, 22 April, April 26 and April 29.

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