TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and accused it of "looting" the democratic rights of the people, a day after the BJP registered a landslide victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference, the outgoing CM claimed that her party had won the election morally and stated that she would not resign from her position.
"I will not resign, I did not lose, I will not go to Raj Bhavan...The question doesn't arise. No. Now, I also want to say that we didn't lose the election. Officially, through the Election Commission, they can defeat us, but morally, we won the election," the TMC leader said.
Targeting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Mamata described him as the "villain of this election" and accused him of "looting" the EVMs and the democratic rights of the people. She also reiterated the allegation that the ECI worked for the BJP, facilitating their win in the crucial elections.
"Two days before the election, they started arresting our people. They started raiding everywhere. They changed all IPS and IAS officers. They selected people from their party and BJP played the game directly with the Election Commission. It is a betting between the BJP and the Election Commission," Mamata alleged.
Speaking on the ECI's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that reduced Bengal's electorate by nearly 91 lakhs, Mamata said, "We fought against all machinery. PM and HM are also involved, direct interference... They played dirty, nasty and mischievous games. I have never seen this type of election in my life."
Mamata also repeated the allegation that she was attacked when she visited the counting centre where votes for the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency --which the TMC leader lost to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari-- were being counted on Monday.
"I went inside for a few minutes. They kicked me in my belly, backside and manhandled and assaulted me. That time CCTV was off..." she said.
She also alleged manipulation and foul play in the counting process.
"After first round of counting, they started saying that BJP is getting 195-200. You didn't wait for the final result. You didn't even wait for 5-6 rounds. After that campaign with the press media, BJP went inside the polling station and they started beating the people, counting agents," Mamata alleged.
"When I came to know that all counting agents are withdrawn, I was leading by about 30,000 and about 5 rounds were left. We should have got more than 32,000," she added.
Mamata also alleged that BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari brought around 200 goons from outside to beat up people.
"Even women were not spared and they snatched away all forms. When I came to know, I went there. They stopped my car, but I took another route. When I entered, the CRPF told me that I was not allowed to go. I said that I am a candidate...Then I complained to the RO that counting should be stopped immediately until normalcy is restored. I saw the DEO. I know that he gave a message to someone 15 days ago that 'counting mein khel hoga'..." she said.
Mamata earlier said she would file formal complaints with the authorities concerned against the foul play at the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ High School counting centre, where the votes for her constituency were counted.
The race took a dramatic turn over consecutive rounds, with Mamata, who established a strong lead initially, being overturned by Adhikari, who took a lead of over 500 votes after the 16th round.
Mamata also stated that several INDIA alliance leaders had reached out to her to express solidarity.
"Sonia ji, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Hemant Soren rang me up. All the allies of INDIA Alliance told me that they are totally and absolutely with me. I think our solidarity will be united and strong for the next days," she said.
She stressed that she would now work towards strengthening the opposition alliance.
"My target is very clear. I will strengthen the INDIA team, just like a small person. I don't have a chair now, so I am a commoner," she said.
Mamata also announced the formation of a 10-member fact-finding committee to visit areas "affected by post-poll violence" and assess the ground situation.
The BJP registered a resounding victory in Bengal, winning 207 seats, well past the majority mark in the 294-member assembly and elbowing out the TMC government, which had been in power for three consecutive terms.
