BJP urges EC to debar 2 TMC Ministers from fighting WB polls over alleged MCC violations

On Monday, BJP wrote to the Election Commission of India over alleged Model Code of Conduct violations by West Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim and Arup Roy. In a letter addressed to the EC, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, BJP WB vice president Pratap Banerjee and Election Commissioner Team Convenor Shishir Bajoria sought the immediate cognizance of the EC. It demanded that Hakim and Roy should be debarred from contesting elections and participating in the entire electoral process. 

To buttress its stance, BJP attached a video clip that showed Hakim standing in a mosque on February 27 where he allegedly announced favours for the minority community and urged people to defeat BJP. According to the JP Nadda-led party, the WB Urban Development Minister admitted that this incident happened after the enforcement of the MCC. Moreover, they claimed that money was distributed to the people by the Ramkrishnapur Co-operative Bank, Howrah on February 27 under the "direct supervision" of state Cooperation Minister Arup Roy. 

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West Bengal Assembly polls

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had swept the 2016 Assembly polls by bagging 211 seats in the 294-member Assembly. Buoyed by its success in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where it won 18 out of 42 parliamentary seats in WB, BJP has launched a fierce campaign to defeat TMC. Both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda exuded confidence in the party winning more than 200 seats in the Assembly polls. The Congress-Left-ISF alliance is also in the poll fray while AIMIM too has announced its intention to make its political debut in the state. 

Announcing the dates of the Assembly polls on February 26, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora mentioned that 18.68 crore persons will decide the fate of 824 seats in the aforesaid 4 States and one Union Territory at 2.7 lakh polling stations. In West Bengal, 294 seats are up for grabs and people will be able to cast their votes at 1,01,916 polling stations. As per the phases, the polling in the state will be conducted on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29. The counting of votes shall take place on May 2. 

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