CM accuses BJP of buying off TMC's polling agents- allegation comes in the context of the seizure of Rs 23.53 crore in unaccounted cash across the state between February 26 and March 21
Her allegation comes in the context of the seizure of Rs 23.53 crore in unaccounted cash across the state between February 26 and March 21
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of trying to buy off her party’s polling agents and asked Trinamul workers and politicians to keep an eye on these agents.
Her remark came amid huge seizures of money and liquor and an acknowledgement from Election Commission officials that much more cash was being “used” this election compared with earlier Bengal polls.
“You (Trinamul leaders and workers) should closely watch whether the BJP has been buying off our party workers. I too am keeping an eye out,” Mamata said at a rally in Raghunathpur, Purulia.
“They (the BJP) have been asking some of our booth agents (polling agents) to work for them on polling day in exchange for Rs 5 lakh. I will not let them.”
Mamata’s allegation comes in the context of the seizure of Rs 23.52 crore in unaccounted cash across the state between February 26, when the model code of conduct came into force, and March 21. Liquor worth Rs 11.05 crore too has been seized.
Officials said both figures were huge considering the Election Commission never saw Bengal as an “expenditure-sensitive” state.
A poll panel source said: “As far as I can recall, a total of about Rs 9 crore was seized in the entire period ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls. It’s clear that much more money is being used this time.”
Mamata also referred to a social media video that shows a candidate purportedly promising someone to take care of expenses a day before the polls.
“This is their character,” she told a rally in the Para constituency in Purulia. “They come before the polls and seek votes by providing Rs 500, or Rs 1,000, or Rs 5,000. Don’t vote for money.”
In the video, a man resembling Jhargram BJP candidate Sukhamay Satpathi is seen but it’s not clear who speaks the words.
Satpathi denied the charge and accused the chief minister of playing “dirty politics”.
“I went to a vegetable market in Jhargram for a poll campaign a few days ago. I never uttered such words. Maybe an outsider who was in the market said that. I never imagined that Mamata Banerjee would lie to malign me,” Satpathi said.
Trinamul leaders in the Jungle Mahal districts claimed the BJP was “inundating” the remote areas with cash and bribes in the form of mobile phones and television sets to lure away Trinamul workers.
Senior Trinamul leaders from Calcutta have directed the district leaderships of the constituencies that vote in the first two phases (March 27 and April 1) to build a network to monitor the party leaders and workers who have been appointed polling agents.
“Didi is right. The BJP has already started abusing its money power here. We had been alerted earlier and assigned only the proven faithful workers as polling agents,” said Nabendu Mahali, a Trinamul general secretary and party spokesperson in Purulia.
“We have set up a network to keep a watch on our party workers. We trust them, but the BJP is trying to win this election by hook or crook.”
Trinamul had trailed from eight of Purulia district’s nine Assembly segments in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato of the BJP had won the parliamentary seat by more than 2 lakh votes. Across Jungle Mahal, Trinamul had trailed the BJP from 31 of the 40 Assembly segments.
Sources said the police had seized around Rs 50 lakh in cash on Monday morning from a car in Purulia and handed the money over to the income-tax department.
The Purulia district administration has now formed an all-women police flying squad to monitor the areas bordering Jharkhand, having been tipped off that political parties might use women cash couriers in the poll-bound districts.
Mamata too has asked the police to beef up monitoring in the areas bordering Jharkhand, saying she has information that cars bearing Union government stickers are being used to distribute money in the region.
State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh asked: “How does she know? It’s her party that buys votes. She is being paranoid now, knowing she is going to lose.”
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