Campaigning came to an end yesterday for the first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal, involving 18 seats across three districts in the state’s western part.
Polling in the 18 constituencies - nine in Purulia, three in Bankura and six in West Medinipur – will be held tomorrow. In 13 of them, regarded as Maoist-affected, the polling will end two hours early at 4pm.
The fate of 133 candidates from all major parties - the Trinamool Congress, the Left Front-Congress combination and the Bharatiya Janata Party - will be decided by the more than 4mn voters. A total of 4,945 polling stations including five auxiliary stations have been set up.
Among major candidates are state minister Sukumar Hansda of the Trinamool and former MP Pulin Bihari Baske (Communist Party of India – Marxist) As many as 21 candidates have declared criminal cases against them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra hit the campaign trail.
The Narada sting operation which shows Trinamool leaders allegedly accepting bribes and the Kolkata flyover tragedy seemed to be the main talking points.
In Niyamatpur the Congress vice president attacked Banerjee and Modi, saying they wish to crush the entire opposition.
Stating that both leaders wish to run their governments single-handedly, Gandhi called on people to vote for a Left-Congress coalition.
Gandhi, who addressed his maiden election meeting for the polls in the eastern state, said his party has teamed up with the Left Front to take on Banerjee.
“In Delhi, Narendra Modi is the prime minister. And across India, Congress is fighting against him,” he said.
Accusing Modi of trying to “finish off democracy” in the country, Gandhi said the Congress governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were brought down through money power.
“In Arunachal Pradesh, he caused the fall of our government by giving money. He did the same in Uttarakhand because he wants there should be only one leader in India - Narendra Modi,” the Congress vice president said.
He said Modi only wanted the ideology of Nagpur (the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters) to prevail in the country, and tries to crush any contrary viewpoint.
“He wants there should be only one ideology in India, one view point, that of Nagpur, which he wants to impose on the country. And wherever one stands up against him, be it in a university, or any Congress leader in any state, or any bureaucrat, Narendra Modi wants to crush it.”
What Modi is doing across India, Banerjee was emulating in West Bengal, Gandhi said, adding: “She also wants the monopoly of one person.”
Gandhi said whenever he met MPs of the Trinamool and BJP in parliament, they complained that they were not given any importance.
“I meet her (Banerjee’s) MPs in parliament, and they say only one person matters in Trinamool. They tell me ‘What we think, what we want, that is not paid any attention to.’ The BJP MPs say the same thing.”
Attacking Banerjee on the issue of corruption, Gandhi raised the Saradha scam and Narada News portal’s purported sting operation.
Gandhi said when the Congress had formed the government along with the Trinamool, both had promised to fight corruption.
“But when the country’s biggest scam, the Saradha ponzi scheme scandal, came into the public domain, Mamataji did not say anything against it. Her partymen straightaway took money. The sting operation showed her partymen taking money, but Mamataji is quiet.”
Stating that the Congress did not want West Bengal to be steeped in corruption, Gandhi said strict action must be taken against all those involved in graft.
He said the Congress-LF would not run a government of “one person”.
“It will be a government by all. It will be a government of the poor and the common people, a government of tribals and dalits, weaker sections.”