Trinamul leaders kidnap at gunpoint 11 panchayat colleagues in Malda telegraphindia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraphindia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The districts are Murshidabad, Malda, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Birbhum and Uttar Dinajpur. In these six districts taken together, Muslims make up 42.04% of the population.
“The absence of the candidates from the campaign and also on the poll day would be a loss,” said Gobinda Chandra Mandal, the Malda district BJP president.
“But ours is an organised party and our supporters vote looking at the symbol,” he added, putting up a brave face even as reports from the ground level are different.
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The absence of the candidates from the campaign trail, however, is not the only woe facing the BJP that had high expectations from the district.
Unlike earlier years, a number of disgruntled BJP leaders have filed nominations as Independents in five seats.
Major political parties in Malda, a district where Assembly polls would be held in half of its 12 seats on Monday, traded charges of violence and violations of Election Commission norms before voting day.
The BJP alleged Trinamul-backed goons had torched one of its election offices at Manikchak on Saturday night.
Refuting the allegation, Trinamul leaders accused the BJP of bringing in over 1,000 people at a public meeting in Manikchak on Sunday, where party leaders like Locket Chatterjee were present, disobeying the EC’s Covid protocols that limit crowds to 500.
Trinamul further alleged that Nishith Pramanik, the BJP MP of Cooch Behar, who visited Malda on Sunday, violated the model code of conduct by visiting BSF camps.
West Bengal Assembly elections 2021: Dissidents in BJP pick Bharatiya Jana Sangh telegraphindia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraphindia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.