BJP trying to manipulate counting system in WB, alleges TMC's Ghosh

TMC's Kunal Ghosh accuses BJP of trying to 'manipulate the counting system' in West Bengal. He calls the SC ruling on counting staff a 'setback' for the EC and expresses confidence that Mamata Banerjee will win the assembly polls.

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Saturday accused the BJP of "trying to manipulate the counting system" in West Bengal till the very last moment and expressed confidence that the party led by Mamata Banerjee will win the assembly polls.

'Setback for Election Commission'

He also said that the apex court ruling on TMC's petition was "a setback" for the Election Commission. "Gyanesh Kumar's Election Commission suffered another big setback to the Election Commission. The communication given by the additional chief electoral officer of West Bengal. The interpretation of that is that during the counting, only the central government and central PSU employees will be there, as the counting supervisor and the counting assistant. There will be no one from the state. We had challenged it in the Supreme Court. On our behalf, counsel Kapil Sibal and Mrs Meenakshi Arora said that this is not right. This contradicts Article 324 of our Constitution," he said.

"So ultimately, after hearing both parties, the Supreme Court made it very clear that not only central government employees but also state government employees will be there. So this is a big setback," he added.

'BJP Knows It Is Going to Lose'

Ghosh claimed that BJP knows that it will lose polls very badly. "BJP knows that it is going to lose badly. That is why they are trying to manipulate the counting till the very last moment. They are trying their best to manipulate the counting system. They know they are going to be defeated very, very badly, and Mamata Banerjee is going to have a huge victory on Monday (May 4). So they are trying to create irregularities and bias till the very last moment," he said.

Ghosh also talked about a "document" about the party contesting the Trinamool Congress. "We have a document. I will not tell which party's document this is. But it is the document of a party which is fighting with Trinamool. This is their final observation on 294 seats; this is their secret document. Six leaders were present at that meeting. They've identified 78 seats which they can win. We've been saying for a long time that Trinamool Congress had crossed the century mark in the first phase; it reached a double century in the second phase," he said.

Supreme Court Declines to Pass Directions

The Supreme Court on Saturday declined to pass any directions on a plea filed by the TMC, challenging the Calcutta High Court order, which had rejected its petition against the alleged deployment of Central government employees as voter counting supervisors in the West Bengal assembly election.

A special Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi was constituted on Saturday to hear the matter urgently, as vote counting is scheduled to begin on May 4. After hearing both sides, the court declined to issue any directions in the case. It recorded the submission of the ECI that its April 13 circular would be implemented in full. The court noted that this includes the deployment of State government employees along with Central government and PSU personnel in the vote counting process, as claimed by AITC. The Bench, therefore, disposed of the matter without passing further orders, except reiterating the statement made by the ECI's counsel. (ANI)

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