Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday lashed out at the Election Commission for allegedly acting as the BJP’s spokesperson. Speaking soon after it became clear that her party would win more than 200 seats in the 294-seat West Bengal assembly, Banerjee said that she was determined to approach the Supreme Court against the Election Commission.
Banerjee said that she was shocked by the result of Nandigram particularly after the Election Commission had declared her a winner. “They announced me the winner and after that they are saying something else. Some looting is going on. We will go to the court,” she said. In Nandigram, she was pitted against Suvendu Adhikari, her former aide, who had defected to the BJP just before the assembly polls.
Banerjee said that the Election Commission acted as the BJP’s spokesperson in Nandigram. “How can be the mandate in Nandigram be different from the rest of the people? How do you explain that?” Banerjee asked in reference to a landslide win for her party across the state.
Banerjee said that the Election Commission had crossed the ‘lakshman rekha’ and it was time to go to the Constitution Bench against the national poll body. She said that she intended to have as many opposition parties on board as possible before moving the Supreme Court against the EC.
Banerjee said that she had set her eyes on 221 seats but ended up winning two less because two of her candidates died during the election process.
In a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the Trinamool chief said that the BJP duo wanted to establish a ‘double-engine’ government in the state but ‘it’s I who hit a double century.’