Shafaqna Pakistan: An Indian chief minister ousted in state elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Tuesday she had “not been defeated” and would not step down, in a rare political development.
The BJP secured a sweeping victory over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, winning more than two-thirds of the 294 seats as counting concluded on Monday.
The party, which had never previously governed the populous eastern state bordering Bangladesh, achieved a major breakthrough, expanding its footprint across eastern India.
The TMC’s seat count dropped sharply to 80 from 215, and Banerjee also lost her own constituency seat.
Banerjee said about 100 seats were “forcibly taken” from her party, which also had to contend with a “biased” Election Commission. She did not back her accusation with evidence.
“I will not resign, I did not lose… officially, through the Election Commission, they (the BJP) can defeat us, but morally, we won the election,” she told a news briefing.
West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal termed the allegations “baseless”. The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee, said “everything is mentioned in the constitution”.
Banerjee can appeal result in court
According to the Indian constitution, the state’s governor can demand Banerjee’s resignation or wait for her term to expire, after which newly elected lawmakers would be sworn in and the process of forming a new government would begin.
Banerjee’s term is set to end on Thursday.
A defeated candidate in an Indian state election can challenge the result in court on grounds including corrupt practices, improper acceptance or rejection of nominations or votes, candidate disqualification, or non-compliance with election laws that affected the outcome.
Banerjee did not say if she would go to court.
Modi, his closest aide and Home Minister Amit Shah, and several senior BJP leaders campaigned for weeks in the state, focusing on what they called illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the weak local economy under Banerjee.
Source: Dunya News
