A furious Mamata Banerjee attributed the shock Bengal results to “loot, loot, loot”, underscoring that her party, the Trinamool, will bounce back.
Mamata Banerjee, who was aiming for a fourth term, targeted the Election Commission, calling it the “BJP Commission” after results showed the BJP in the lead and her party a distant second.
The BJP scored a fabulous win in Bengal, long considered ‘Missing Impossible’ for the ruling party at the Centre. It has won 114 seats and is leading in 92.
“More than 100 seats BJP looted. The Election Commission is the BJP’s commission. I complained to the CO and also Manoj Agrawal, but they are not doing anything,” Banerjee, surrounded by security personnel, told reporters.
“Do you think this is a victory? It is an immoral victory, not a moral victory. Whatever the Election Commission has done, along with the Central Forces and the PM & Home Minister, is totally illegal. It is loot, loot, loot. We will bounce back,” she added.”
In Bhabhanipur, after 16 rounds of counting (four more to go), Mamata Banerjee is trailing by 554 votes to Suvendu Adhikari, her former protege.
Suvendu Adhikari had defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 polls. This time, he is contesting from both Nandigram and Bhabhanipur.
The polls were marked by record voter turnout – 93.16% in Phase 1 and 91% in Phase 2. The average turnout across the entire state was over 92% – the highest turnout ever recorded, not only in the state but in the entire country.
In the lead-up to the polls, I-PAC, political consultancy firm working for Trinamool, and its director Pratik Jain’s house was raided by the Enforcement Directorate on January 8. The Chief Minister descended on the scene with state police and officials and was seen taking away certain documents.
A day before Phase 1 polling, the Supreme Court disapproved of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s act of walking into the midst of an investigation by a central agency and putting “democracy in jeopardy”.
Citing “severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process”, the poll body announced repolling in all polling booths of Bengal’s Falta Assembly constituency on May 21. On Monday, the votes were counted for 293 seats only.
In Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking about the poll wins at the BJP headquarters, reminded how he spoke about winning Bengal when the Bihar poll results came last year.
“Last year, on November 14th – when the election results for Bihar were declared – I stood right here, at the BJP Headquarters, and told you all that the River Ganga flows onward from Bihar all the way to Gangasagar. Today, with this victory in Bengal, the lotus has blossomed everywhere – from Gangotri to Gangasagar,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister also touched upon the big Assam victory, where the party secured a third straight term.
“Along with the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, too, has bestowed its abundant blessings; the people of Assam have placed their trust in the BJP for the third consecutive time,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi further said the reason behind his party’s serial wins in election after election is its belief in placing people at the centre of its plans.
“Our mantra is “Nagarik Devo Bhava (The Citizen is God). We are dedicated to serving the public; that is precisely why the people are placing their utmost trust in the BJP,” PM Modi underlined.
PM Modi framed the BJP win as a win for India’s democracy and its Constitution.
“And today it is not just India’s democracy that is victorious, today the Constitution of India is also victorious,” PM Modi said.
“From today, Bengal has become free from fear and imbued with the confidence of development,” PM Modi said, adding “Bengal poriborton hoye geyche“.