Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to arrive in Kolkata after the announcement of the election results on May 4.
He would monitor the situation personally with senior police and civil officials to avoid a 2021 rerun. The BJP is confident of winning West Bengal polls and wrest power from Trinamool Congress but says does not want the spectre of post-verdict violence as was unleashed by TMC goons in 2021.
In fact, Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai was deputed to Bengal to oversee the situation even before the exit poll predictions came.
The Union Home Ministry has said that the central forces would remain in Bengal for two months after the election results to prevent post-poll violence.
In 2021, the violence was triggered by TMC goons the moment it became clear that Mamata Banerjee would return to power. The BJP workers and supporters were attacked in multiple places. In 2026, the overall situation is somewhat different while a large numbers of central forces are already in the state and they would continue for 60 days after the vote count; the BJP is exuding confidence of a comfortable win.
On the other hand, the TMC is extremely nervous and is resorting to various peculiar tantrums including visits to strong rooms and Dharna by TMC leaders.
No wheel chair unlike 2021 but drama queen is keeping things alive. At the end, as the TMC protests fizzled out, Mamata Banerjee directed her party workers to maintain a strict 24/7 vigil outside strongrooms, with replacements in place even for loo breaks.
A high-voltage second phase of polling in West Bengal ended with high-voltage drama on Thursday night, with Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee marching down to an EVM holding centre over allegations of vote manipulation.
However, by the end of it, the late-night drama over alleged EVM tampering at a Kolkata strongroom ultimately turned out to be a false alarm.
The controversy was triggered by a Trinamool Congress tweet alleging suspicious movement inside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in central Kolkata, where EVMs from all seven North Kolkata Assembly seats are stored.
By the time the video surfaced at around 8:30 pm, TMC candidates Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh were already at the site, staging a sit-in outside Netaji Indoor Stadium, barely 100 metres away.
These followed another video message by Mamata Banerjee herself trying to keep the morale of the party workers high. Reportedly in some areas, the TMC faced shortage of counting agencts. Mamata's message made big claims that her party will win 226 seats.
The Exit Polls outcomes from multiple agencies and the confidence shown by BJP leaders especially Suvendu Adhikari have forced Mamata to come out with such a video message. While she made big claims about the poll outcome; her actions and the manner she spoke betrayed an unprecedented nervousness.
Kunal Ghosh and Sashi Panja at Dharna on April 30
Around the same time, State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal clarified that Mamata Banerjee, not being a candidate or authorised agent for North Kolkata seats, could not enter the facility where the allegations had surfaced.
Back outside Netaji Indoor Stadium, tensions persisted, with BJP candidates Tapas Roy and Santosh Kumar Pathak objecting to the gathering of TMC leaders and supporters near the site.
After the video of the alleged suspicious movement was tweeted by the TMC, party candidate Kunal Ghosh said their candidates had been present at the strongroom till 3:30 pm. He claimed they were asked to leave, after which it was reopened around 4 pm.
Ghosh said he called party workers at the site to check what was happening and was told they had already left. “Then Shashi and I rushed to the strongroom, but we were not being allowed to enter,” Ghosh told the media.
On the other hand, Agarwal, in his midnight presser, rejected Ghosh’s claims, saying it was a clear case of “miscommunication” and that candidates of the concerned Assembly constituencies had already been informed via email about the postal ballot process way in advance.
However, the protest soon fizzled out in the North Kolkata constituency after State CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal’s midnight press conference, following which Mamata Banerjee also came out of the strongroom in the South Kolkata constituency, where she had been staying.
A BJP message said: "A minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, and a chit fund scam-accused member of the TMC, who came to power on stolen mandates, are protesting outside the strong room where EVMs are kept, without any valid reason."
Here are the facts:
👉 All strong rooms containing polled EVMs are safely secured and sealed.
👉 There is another strong room on the same premises for postal ballots, where the EC has kept AC-wise polled ballots submitted by different polling personnel and Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS).
👉 The EC had notified all Observers and ROs, and requested ROs to inform candidates and their agents about this. 👉 ROs informed political parties via email (image attached). 👉 In the video, segregation of ballots was taking place in the corridor of the strong room premises from 4pm.
👉 The main strong rooms are safely secured and locked.
👉 The same was duly shown to Mrs. Panja and Mr. Kunal Ghosh.
"The truth is that people have voted for change and Mamata Banerjee is merely building an excuse for her impending defeat on 4th May," the West Bengal BJP said in a Twitter (X) message.
Time to Go .... 'Jabar Bela' .
ends
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