West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Tuesday denied a claim made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that she was “beaten” at a counting centre during the Assembly elections process on Monday, ANI reported.
Agarwal said that surveillance footage did not support the claim that Banerjee had been assaulted, adding that the security cameras “were never off”.
The polling official said he had also spoken with the district election officer and that no incident of violence at the centre had been reported.
“Nobody was beaten up,” Agarwal said, adding that “such things never happen with any candidate”.
The chief electoral officer said that the authorities had received no formal complaint and that no first information report related to the alleged incident had been filed.
When asked by reporters about Banerjee’s allegations that Electronic Voting Machines had been manipulated, Agarwal said “we cannot answer if there is nothing specific”.
He asked: “What were these machines? What tables were these on? What Assembly seat was it? How can we answer if these specifications are not clear?”
Agarwal said that the counting of votes is conducted by the returning officer under the supervision of the district election officer, and not by the chief electoral officer.
On Monday, Banerjee had claimed that she had been “beaten” at a counting centre. However it was unclear whom Banerjee’s allegations were against.
“From 3 pm onwards, they have been beating us,” Banerjee claimed while speaking with reporters. “I was hit. CCTV was switched off. None of our agents was allowed inside [the counting centre].”
Alleging irregularities in the counting process, the chief minister claimed that the BJP had “looted votes in more than 100 seats”.
In the results declared on Monday, the BJP won 207 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, ending the 15-year rule of the Banerjee-led TMC.
A party or an alliance needs 148 seats in the Assembly to secure a majority. The TMC won 80 seats.
On Tuesday, Banerjee said that she would not resign as the chief minister, claiming that her party had “morally won” the polls even though the BJP had officially secured a victory.
Also read:
- SIR to CRPF: Five factors that helped the BJP conquer Bengal
- How the BJP played the Bangladesh card during the Bengal poll campaign
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