Kolkata: The high- voltage phase five of the West Bengal Assembly elections is slated on Saturday with too many theatrics in the backdrop.
The rising Corona graph and the political blame-game over the second wave of the pandemic, a series of Election Commission of India (ECI) - imposed bans on several VVIPs including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for a day and the shadow of the central armed forces firing at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district during the fourth phase polls that killed four persons and another voter nearby who also succumbed to bullet injuries – several such factors have kept the strain elements brewing before the 5th phase of polling.
Besides Mamata Banerjee, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh and top BJP leader Rahul Sinha have faced the ECI ire and were barred from campaigning for a specific period of time. Apart from that, the ECI also either served notices or censored other first rank BJP leaders like Sayantan Basu and Suvendu Adhikari, among others.
The fifth phase of polls, which will be under the stewardship of the new Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, will also be conducted under the shadow of the growing tension between the EC and Trinamool Congress, with the latter demanding the clubbing of the last three phases into a single phase. The demand has been denied by the ECI, which has increased the silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours for the last three phases of polls in the state. The timing of the campaign has also been curtailed by the EC.
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Earlier Mamata Banerjee had urged the ECI through a tweet for clubbing the last three phases into a single phase keeping in mind the soaring numbers of Covid-19 patients in Bengal.
Ruling out the possibility of clubbing of the last three phases, the EC has said that any clubbing of phases will pose technical difficulties in the deployment of central armed forces which in turn will hamper the process of ensuring peaceful polls.
Meanwhile, Pradip Nandi, the RSP candidate from Jangipur Assembly constituency, expired this evening due to Covid-19 related complications. Nandi is the second contestant after Rezaul Haq, the Congress aspirant from Samserganj Assembly constituency, to die out of Coronavirus infection.
The fifth phase of polls will also be conducted in the backdrop of the central armed police forces opening fire at Sitalkuchi during the fourth phase of polls on April 10, which killed four persons. Already political mudslinging has started over the incident, with the BJP releasing an audio tape of a conversation between Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress candidate from Sitalkuchi, Partha Pratim Roy. The opposition party alleged that Mamata Banerjee was playing politics with dead bodies. Trinamool Congress has rubbished the allegations, claiming the tapes as fake.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal police has been given the charge of probing the Sitalkuchi firing. On Saturday, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court has instructed to complete the probe and submit a detailed report by May 5.
The audio clip of the alleged conversation between Mamata Banerjee and Partha Pratim Roy, wherein Mamata Banerjee had allegedly threatened to put central armed forces personnel who were involved in the Sitalkuchi firing, behind bars, has gone viral. In the same clip, it was heard that Mamata Banerjee has been crying foul against Cooch Behar district superintendent of police and the local inspector-in-charge. ETV Bharat has not checked the authenticity of the audio clip.
As Bengal steps in for the fifth round of polls and for the first round of polls in the biggest district of the state, North 24 Parganas, there is already widespread apprehension of a fresh round of poll-related violence. Additional forces have been deployed, but the last minute leak of the audio tape could only unset the already volatile situation. All eyes are on the 45 poll-bound seats on Saturday.
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