West Bengal gets ready for election among tight security in the border areas

Sandeep Mitra

Kolkata, 27 February: Time flies and here we are again at the beginning of yet another epic West Bengal Vidhan Sabha election. The people of West Bengal love their festivals and an election is no less than a festival here. Five years have passed since the Trinamool Congress Party came into power the second time by crushing the left even more severely and the Bharatiya Janta Party were minnows then.

That time they had conceded the elections and the Trinamool Congress Party seems to get a walkover. But the equation seems to be different this time. The Minnows are now the challengers.

At least this is what the Media is saying or in other words what the BJP think tank has been successful in projecting in the minds of the West Bengal voters. Only time will say that did they forget their past and bundled the Left to oblivion and gave an outsider more room. The favorites to win the elections is obviously the Trinamool Congress Party under the Leadership of Mamta Banerji who in her vast political career have silenced Goliath not once but thrice (First time when she defeated Somnath Chatterjee in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the second time when she defeated the mighty LEFT, she became the Chief Minister of West Bengal first time in the year 2011 by defeating the invincible Lenin brigade and the third time she defeated the anti-incumbency, therefore, getting more foothold over the state.

The Bharatiya Janta Party no more the pushovers on the National front is an organized and professional political party that knows to keep its words and full fill the promises given to its traditional voters. The Bharatiya Janta Party has tasted the blood of success in the last Lok Sabha elections and is banking that the people of Bengal still trust them despite poor economic status and rise of prices due to the unavoidable Corona pandemic.

The people of West Bengal are ones whose lives and future are at stake here as per my calculations both the Trinamool Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janta Party will gain from the upcoming election. Yes there is scare to the LEFT as they may become a Nano Party.

Today the checking campaign started on the first day of model restrictions being imposed in West Bengal. As soon as the announcement of the assembly elections in West Bengal, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force across the state. After the announcement of election dates by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday evening, police from Kolkata to adjoining districts of Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas and other parts of the state have started a checking operation as per rules.

Before entering Kolkata, one has to pass through Howrah that to over the river, so a special monitoring boat has been deployed in the Ganges river. Apart from this, an investigation operation has been started on both ends of Howrah Bridge. Similarly, police have started an investigation on the entry point of each district and all the points of entry from other states to West Bengal.

According to state administration sources, during the election, criminals may put the state into any kind of instability. Hence special caution is being taken. No unknown person is being allowed to enter without investigation. Apart from this, the police are particularly cautious about arms smuggling. According to the Intelligence Bureau, special monitoring is being done for people of criminal tendency to enter from other states to spread violence at the time of elections in West Bengal.