Opposition seek more time for nominations, TMC says they don’t have candidates

Kolkata: With the Opposition parties claiming that the time for filing nominations is too short and that Central forces should be deployed for the polls, Trinamool Congress is of the opinion that the Opposition does not have candidates to field and hence, are coming up with several excuses.

Reacting to the Opposition’s demand, TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said even before the State Election Commission has mentioned anything specific in terms of security, the Opposition is running to court demanding paramilitary forces. “This is nothing short of absurd,” she remarked. She added: “Now, the Leader of Opposition is demanding paramilitary forces. Tomorrow, he may demand deployment of military forces. No one cares about what he thinks.”

Further, commenting on Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s complaint that the time provided for filing of nominations is too short, Chandrima said it has always been the same timing, more or less, for filing of nominations. “He (Adhir) himself has filed nominations in the past during the same time hours. He should know about such matters,” she said.

According to the State Election Commission, the timing for filing of nominations is from June 9 to June 15 from 11 am to 3 pm, except on Sunday (June 11). This leaves six days for filing of nominations.

Responding to complaints that nomination papers have still not been prepared by the Commission, she said: “Let the Commission worry about that. The Opposition parties are coming up with such excuses since they do not have any candidates to field for the polls. How come they are not ready for the polls and Trinamool Congress already has their list of candidates ready?”

Meanwhile, commenting on reports that certain candidates who went to file their nominations on Friday were pelted with stones, TMC leader Firhad Hakim said none of the political parties have yet come out with their candidate list. “Who are these people who went to file their nominations today (Friday)? If they were Independent candidates, then why would they get attacked? They hardly have a political background. The charge against TMC workers attacking them falls flat on its face,” he reasoned.

Reacting to Suvendu Adhikari’s objection that how come poll dates were announced without holding an all-party meeting first, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said there is no hard and fast rule that says such a meeting needs to be called before announcing of poll dates. State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha too said the same during the press conference on Thursday.

Commenting on the demand of BJP for deploying Central forces and that the poll should not be held in a single phase, Ghosh stated that it is being demanded because the BJP does not have any organisational strength to contest the polls.

“The 2021 Bengal Assembly elections were held in multiple phases with Central forces and the result of the polls is known to all,” he remarked.