KOLKATA, May 5: Alleging that the West Bengal assembly poll verdict was “not a people’s mandate but a conspiracy”, a defiant TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday refused to resign as chief minister, opening up a constitutional grey zone and a political confrontation in the state.
A day after the BJP sealed a landslide victory with 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress’s uninterrupted 15-year rule, Banerjee dismissed the outcome as “engineered” and asserted that her party was fighting the Election Commission, not the BJP. The TMC could only manage 80 seats.
“Why should I step down? We have not lost. The mandate has been looted. Where does the question of resignation arise?” she said, doubling down on her refusal to vacate the office.
“The question of my resignation does not arise, as we were defeated not by a public mandate but by a conspiracy. I did not lose, I will not go to Lok Bhavan,” she asserted at a packed press conference, her tone oscillating between grievance and combativeness.
Banerjee alleged large-scale irregularities in counting, claiming nearly 100 seats were “looted” and that the pace of counting was deliberately slowed to sap her party’s morale.
“We were not fighting the BJP; we were fighting the Election Commission, which was working for the BJP. I have never seen such an election in my entire political career,” she said.
The 71-year-old leader also alleged that she was “kicked, pushed, and manhandled inside the counting centre on Monday”.
Central force jawans behaved like “goons” outside the counting centres, she claimed.
“A black chapter in history has been created. The Chief Election Commissioner has become the villain,” she added, escalating her attack on the poll body.
The BJP, meanwhile, dismissed her claims outright, accusing her of undermining democratic institutions and refusing to accept the people’s verdict.
“Her comments have no acceptance. She is only making herself a laughingstock. We guess she is making such incredulous comments to hog the limelight for a few more days,” party spokesperson Debojit Sarkar said.
He also asserted that the Election Commission ensured a peaceful polling process, claiming that “not a single case of violence, firing or death” occurred during the two phases of voting.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission dismissed allegations made by Trinamool Congress supremo regarding “irregularities” at the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, terming them “baseless and false”.
Banerjee, who contested from the seat, lost to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of 15,105 votes and subsequently questioned the election process and the role of the Commission.
As Bengal stands at the cusp of a political transition, Banerjee’s refusal to concede defeat has injected an unusual layer into what is typically a well-rehearsed democratic ritual. (PTI)
