Prashant Kishor roars after EC announces poll dates, backs Bengal to show 'Right Card'

A day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for assembly elections in West Bengal and other states, TMC hired poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Saturday said that one of the "key battles FOR DEMOCRACY in India will be fought in West Bengal."

'Bengal only wants its own daughter': Prashant Kishor

Taking to Twitter, Kishor, who runs I-PAC said that "people of Bengal are ready with their MESSAGE and determined to show the RIGHT CARD." Prashant Kishor also used a Bengali hashtag in the tweet, which translates to "Bengal Only Wants its Own Daughter", and added, "On 2nd May, hold me to my last tweet."

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress on Friday announced a 12-member election committee that will look into the selection of candidates and plan a campaign for the upcoming assembly polls.

The panel will be headed by West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, party's secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said after its core committee meeting. Senior party leaders, MPs and MLAs are other members of the committee, he said. Subrata Bakshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Sudip Banerjee, Derek O Brien, Sougata Roy and C M Jatua are members of the election panel. Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee Chandrima Bhattacharya and Aroop Biswas are also part of the team.

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Mamata prays for peace as Bengal goes to polls

A puja was also held at the residence of Mamata Banerjee in Kalighat in south Kolkata as the schedule for the assembly elections in West Bengal was announced.

Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of the Chief Minister, performed the rituals, which were led by Jagannath Swain Mohapatra of the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri. Mohapatra is Lord Jaganath's 'badagrahi' or bodyguard when the deity is brought out of the temple on Ratha Jatra or Snan Jatra. A group of priests from Puri travelled to Kolkata for the puja. The Chief Minister also took part in the rituals as the priests performed a yagna.

Elections for the West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases, up from seven last time, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said while announcing the poll schedule.

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(With PTI inputs)