Oppn dubs KMC poll ‘farce’, TMC says it is peaceful, free

Reacting to opposition charges, state Election Commissioner S R Upadhay said, “If election was held in proper atmosphere, so many complaints would not have been made. After going through all the reports we can tell you how many complaints are true and how many false.” 

“60 per cent polling has been recorded till 3 PM when the voting closed, although voters’ queues are seen outside many booths,” Sabyasachi Ghosh, Officer on Special Duty, state Election Commission, told PTI.

Terming the civic poll as a “farce”, the Congress, CPI-M and BJP accused the TMC of resorting to terror to win the election, a charge rejected by TMC Secretary-General and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.

The SEC, when asked about the possibility of repoll, said that the allegations were being looked into and any decision in this regard would be taken on Sunday.

On the incidents of terror and violence, he said, “If such things really happened, it was bad for democracy”.

Describing the election free and peaceful, Partha Chatterjee said that the way the people stood in long queues braving a scorching sun, it showed that the TMC-run KMC board had done enormous development under the leadership of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

This had silenced the opposition parties which were banking on a smear campaign against Trinamool Congress rather than reposing faith in the people, he told reporters.

On the other hand, CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the ruling party unleashed “unprecedented terror to stifle the democratic rights of people”.

State BJP President Rahul Sinha demanded that the State Election Commissioner should resign, or he should cancel the election and order a fresh poll.