TMC Minister & poll candidate Partha Chatterjee summoned by ED in ponzi scam case

In a big development on Wednesday, the ED summoned senior TMC leader and West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the I-Core chit fund case next week. Earlier, Chatterjee had refused to appear before the CBI in this case despite between summoned twice citing that he is busy in the election campaign for the WB Assembly polls. Apart from him, the ED will also quiz TMC's former councillor Bappaditya Dasgupta. Chatterjee was allegedly seen in some of the public functions arranged by the now-defunct chit fund company which was charged with duping investors by offering them abnormally high returns on investments. 

Candidate from Behala Paschim

Partha Chatterjee currently holds the portfolios of Higher Education, School Education and Parliamentary Affairs in the West Bengal Cabinet. He is hoping for re-election from the Behala Paschim seat which falls under the Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency. The WB TMC Secretary General beat Kaustav Chatterjee of the CPI(M) in 2016 garnering 1,02,114 votes. While CPI(M) nominated Nihar Bhakta, BJP gave the ticket to actor Srabanti Chatterjee who has appeared in multiple Bengali-language films since 1997. In the fourth phase of the Assembly polls, Behala Paschim registered a voter turnout of 73.49%. 

West Bengal Assembly polls

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had swept the 2016 Assembly polls by bagging 211 seats in the 294-member Assembly. In West Bengal, 294 seats are up for grabs and people will be able to cast their votes at 1,01,916 polling stations. Buoyed by its stupendous 2019 Lok Sabha performance, BJP is looking to oust TMC and is aiming at winning over 200 seats this time. While Congress was the second-largest party in 2016, it has tied with the Left and the Indian Secular Front founded by influential Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui. 

The voter turnout for the seats that went to the polls in the first, second, third and fourth phases was 84.63 per cent, 86.11 per cent, 84.61 per cent and 79.90 per cent respectively. The polling for the remaining phases will take place on April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29. Meanwhile, the election results will be declared on May 2.