Senior BJP leaders on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over what they described as strong voter enthusiasm across West Bengal, claiming that it augurs well for “paribartan” (change) in the state.
BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya, Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur, senior leader Dilip Ghosh and actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty expressed similar views while speaking to the media, saying people exercised their democratic rights without fear or intimidation.
Ghosh, who is contesting from Kharagpur Sadar, told reporters that the presence of central forces was necessitated as the "situation in West Bengal turned worse than Kashmir."
"TMC goons used to attack opposition candidates and intimidate voters previously, but they can't anymore. Now, everywhere there is violence-free and fear-free atmosphere, and credit goes to the Election Commission," he told reporters.
"People of the state now yearn for 'Paribortan' and removal of the TMC regime," he said.
Echoing him, Bhattacharya told reporters, "After 50 years, people of West Bengal have voted in such a way, where the usual scene of intimidation, threat to voters outside polling booths by ruling party leaders was missing. Everyone has come forward to cast their votes. Whoever you like to vote for, exercise your right freely."
Thakur said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "false claims about high-handedness of central forces and the Election Commission will not work anymore, as reflected by the high voter turnout across the state in the earlier first phase and the present second phase.
"In Falta, the TMC candidate was threatening voters. The special police observer of EC went there to instil confidence among voters, and polling is taking place peacefully in a fair manner. Mamata Didi's game is over," he said.
Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty, who cast his vote in Belgachia, said he voted "like an ordinary voter" standing in the queue without seeking any special facilities. "I do not want any facility. I voted like a common voter," Chakraborty told reporters after casting his ballot.
Expressing confidence over the polling turnout, he said, "I hope, watching the trend, voting will be higher than 90 per cent. And if that happens, you can predict what will happen," hinting at a possible change of guard in the state government.
