Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said she has offered to resign from the post of West Bengal chief minister, but her party had rejected it. In her first press conference since the results were announced on Thursday, Banerjee also alleged that Electronic Voting Machines were tampered with during the elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party alone secured 303 of 542 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress won 52 seats. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress won 22 out of 42 seats, while the BJP raised its tally from two seats in 2014 to 18 this year. The Congress won only two seats here.

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“My party did not accept it [her offer to quit as the chief minister],” she told reporters at a press conference in Kalighat in Kolkata. “I was alone. So I have to continue according to the wishes of my party.”

Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of polarising the voters of Bengal and creating an Emergency-like situation to win the elections. “This election was nothing but a farce... It was all about pumping in money and nothing else... How will we fight this? Where will we seek reprieve?” she said, according to News18.

She claimed the Centre had removed police officials at the airport to ensure that money came into Bengal without any problems. She also alleged that the Election Commission of India, the judiciary, central security forces and the media were under the BJP’s control.

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“The central forces worked against us...There was an effort to create a Hindu-Muslim division. We complained to the Election Commission but nothing was looked into,” she said.

She claimed that Electronic Voting Machines were tampered with during the Lok Sabha elections. She questioned how it was possible that there were no Opposition seats in several states. “I have doubts of EVM manipulation, especially seats where we have lost with less than 1 lakh vote margin,” she said.

Banerjee added: “I cannot believe the election results, nobody will say anything, they are scared, but I am not...Congress is not saying anything. On their behalf I will ask, how can BJP win all seats in Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi?”