Mamata, Abhishek meet TMC counting agents

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday told counting agents of the party during a meeting that it will secure over 200 of the 294 Assembly seats, two days ahead of the counting of votes polled.

The two leaders, who held a virtual meeting with counting agents of 291 Assembly seats, also told them that they should regularly update the leadership about the prevailing situation at counting centres and must remain there till the end of the exercise.

The Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) contested the remaining three seats in the Darjeeling hills.

The two-phase Assembly polls were held on April 23 and April 29, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.

The CM, who asserted that the “TMC will at least win 200-plus seats if not more”, also asked counting agents not to give importance to the “propaganda and campaign by the BJP and its allies” about the number of seats they would secure.

She said that the TMC will stand beside counting agents who had been allegedly assaulted by central forces during voting or campaigning. “Do not give importance to the numerous exit polls telecast on TV channels and the social media,” she told the agents, according to a senior TMC leader.

“Such exit polls have no value. The 2021 and 2024 exit polls were way off the mark. I think most such polls are meant to influence the share market,” the TMC supremo said.

She also said that in case of any TMC candidate losing a seat by “a margin of 200-300 votes”, the counting agents must insist on recounting.

“No one should leave the counting centres till the process is over,” the chief minister said.

Abhishek Banerjee, who also interacted with the counting agents virtually, asked them to insist on recounting, particularly for postal ballots, in case of defeat of TMC nominees by a narrow margin.

“All unusual activities inside counting centres, like the sudden power outage at the Nandigram counting centre in 2021, must be immediately reported to the party’s top brass,” he said.

The virtual meeting, which began at 4 pm, lasted for nearly two hours.

Virtual interactions had been a regular feature during the revision of electoral rolls, with Abhishek Banerjee holding multiple meetings with booth-level agents between November and February.

However, such meetings were not held by either Abhishek Banerjee or Mamata Banerjee after the announcement of the assembly polls in March, but by leaders like Mahua Moitra.

The Saturday briefing also covered key aspects of the counting process, including the number of rounds and protocols to be followed once the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are brought out of strong rooms and unsealed.

Despite expressing her confidence of a “landslide victory”, Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly aired her apprehensions of “counting malpractice and EVM tampering ahead of the day of results”.

Two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama late on Thursday evening, after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strong rooms housing sealed EVMs of the Assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.

Mamata Banerjee herself landed up at the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre on Thursday and stayed put for about four hours.

West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer, Manoj Agarwal, had earlier asserted that there was no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.

TMC moves ECI alleging unauthorised postal ballot sorting

Kolkata: The TMC on Saturday said it has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging unauthorised sorting of postal ballot covers at an EVM strongroom in Kolkata.

TMC workers, who have been camping outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, alleged that eight trunks of postal ballots were brought in at 4 am and were taken to a room, which has no CCTV coverage. “We have been demanding that every single millimetre of space where EVMs and postal ballots be under CCTV surveillance. But as these trunks were taken inside, it was clear that they were taken to a room not under CCTV cover. Why should this happen?” a TMC member asked.

Voting machines from several Assembly segments of northern and eastern Kolkata are stored at the strongroom at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.

As TMC activists were demonstrating, BJP’s Shyampukur candidate Purnima Chakraborty reached the spot with her supporters, escalating tensions. Both sides started shouting slogans as police stood between them, attempting to bring the situation under control.

Chakraborty claimed that sensing defeat, TMC workers were creating chaos outside the strongroom. Later, the TMC said it filed a complaint with the EC over the issue.

Similar scenes were witnessed outside the strongroom at the Barasat Government College in North 24 Parganas district, where TMC workers demonstrated, alleging that the CCTV was switched off for 17 minutes in the morning.

TMC’s Ashoknagar candidate Narayan Goswami reached the spot, demanding that he be allowed inside the building.

An election official said the CCTV cameras were working fine, but the power cables of the monitors installed outside the centre snapped.

“The 17-minute footage will be shared with TMC or whichever party wants it,” he said.

In Purba Bardhaman district, the BJP shared a purported video that showed a person scaling the walls of the University Institute of Technology, where EVMs had been stored.

The ECI said the video was old and the person seen in it was engaged for the installation of CCTV cameras and ACs.