Kolkata civic polls: BJP delegation meets Bengal Governor to ensure use of VVPATs

Ahead of the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dinesh Trivedi said on Tuesday that a delegation of party leaders had met Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to ensure the use of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) in the polls.

"We met the Governor demanding that VVPATs be used. It is our duty that free and fair elections happen. Supreme Court has given a judgment that VVPATs must be made available during elections and expenditure for it must be done by the state government. It has termed it an 'indispensable part' and as a requirement for free and fair elections. This is their judgment and not obeying it would be contempt of court. There is still an atmosphere of fear. We want that whenever an ordinary person goes out to cast his vote, he is not worried. The bureaucracy, Police and SEC are compromised. The governor listened to us," Trivedi said while addressing mediapersons here after the meeting.

Trivedi added that the BJP workers are pretty charged about the upcoming elections and the public as well wants them to win this time.

Earlier, a delegation of BJP leaders led by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari met the West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar and expressed their disappointment with the alleged pro-government stance of the State Election Commission and demanded an intervention from the governor.

"WB BJP delegation led by LOP WBLA @SuvenduWB, comprising @PratapWBBJP@DinTri @paulagnimitra1 @shishirkb and Loknath Chatterjee in its meeting with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today expressed disappointment at the pro-government stance of SEC and sought intervention," said a tweet from the Dhankar.

According to the notification issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) on November 25, voting will be held on December 19 from 7 am to 5 pm. The counting of votes will be held on December 21.

This will be the first major electoral battle in West Bengal after the May 2021 assembly polls, which the Trinamool Congress won comprehensively.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.

( With inputs from ANI )