The BJP also demanded that Central forces’ deployment be continued until the results were declared as the party apprehended “violence and reprisals”. The petition was given to the ECI by Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
New Delhi: The BJP on Monday demanded the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct re-polling across seven Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal that went to polls in the last and seventh phase of polling and witnessed widespread violence and disruption allegedly by Trinamool workers.
It also demanded that Central forces’ deployment be continued until the results were declared as the party apprehended “violence and reprisals”. The petition was given to the ECI by Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
In its petition to the ECI, the BJP submitted a list of polling booths across Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jayanagar and Mathurapur parliamentary seats where it suspected rigging of the poll process in favour of the Trinamool led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
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Praying to the EC, the party submitted a four-point request so that “TMC, its leaders and goons are not allowed to harass the innocent people and voters of West Bengal”.
Apart from calling for re-polls, the BJP also demanded that “All EVM strong rooms should be guarded by Central Forces and the state forces should not be allowed to come close to the strong rooms.”
“We also request you that the CAPF continues to be deployed in West Bengal until the conclusion of the electoral process and formal notifications of the constitution of the new parliament,” the petition said.
“While this may prima facie be outside the scope of the Election Commission, the violence and reprisals as apprehended are elections related, it may, in its wisdom also advise the Government of India to continue deployment of CAPF till the state of West Bengal returns to normalcy,” the petition added.
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