BJP delegation meets EC top brass, seeks re-poll in Bengal

New Delhi, May 20 

A BJP delegation on Monday met top Election Commission officials and demanded re-polling where violence had taken place during all phases of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and requested deployment of central forces till the model code of conduct is in force.

“We have met the Election Commissioners and informed them about the violence that had taken place in all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls and requested for re-polling in all the violence-affected constituencies,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after meeting Election Commission officials. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior BJP leaders.

Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of threatening BJP candidates, poll agents and party sympathisers, he urged the EC to take cognisance of the matter.

“We saw incidents of violence took place till the last phase of polling. There is possibility of violence even after counting of votes. So, we have requested the Commission to deploy the central forces in EVM strongrooms till the end of counting to allow free and fair counting,” he said. He said the central forces should be there till the model code of conduct is in force.

The senior BJP leaders also appealed to the poll panel to ensure the sanctity of the counting process in Odisha, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. “Independent observers must be sent in these states and CCTV cameras must be installed in all counting stations in the five states,” he said. —  IANS

AIADMK will perform well: Palaniswami 

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday sought to make light of the exit polls suggesting a bad show by the AIADMK, saying he had himself proved wrong similar predictions of him losing in 2016 
• Palaniswami exuded confidence that the party and its allies would win all seats in the state and one in Puducherry, adding the exit polls were more of “imposing of opinion”
• “In 2016, exit polls suggested that in Salem, the AIADMK will win only three seats and that even I will lose (from Edappadi seat). But I won with a difference of 42,000 votes and the AIADMK won 10 seats. This is what exit polls are all about.”