During a press conference in Kolkata on Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she will not resign from the post of chief minister. Mamata asserted, “We did not lose because of the public mandate, but because of a conspiracy. Therefore, I will not go to Raj Bhavan to tender my resignation.” Mamata alleged that the Election Commission was the real villain, and claimed that it had “looted” 100 seats in collusion with the BJP. “Now I don’t have any official position; I’m a free bird. I can contest elections from anywhere, and I’m on the streets. [लोगों के लिए लड़ते हुए] I will remain.”
Mamata further alleged that the BJP had “hijacked” the counting centres. “They misbehaved with me and tortured our candidates and party workers,” he claimed. He said leaders of his party and the INDIA alliance stand in solidarity with him, and added, “We will rise again and fight him like lions.” The results of assembly elections in five states including West Bengal were declared on Monday. In Bengal, BJP has achieved a historic victory for the first time, winning 207 out of 294 seats. For the first time in the history of the state, BJP government is going to be formed. TMC could win only 80 seats; In this way, after 15 years, power has slipped from Mamata’s hands.
Five main points of Mamta’s press conference:
“Two days before the elections, our people were arrested. Raids were conducted at different places, and IPS and IAS officers were transferred. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister were directly involved in this.”
“I will not resign; I have not lost. I will not go to Raj Bhavan. There is no question of resigning. He may have defeated us officially, but morally, *we* are the ones who have won this election.”
“I have seen the functioning of many governments—including those led by Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee—but I have never seen such atrocities before. The repression knew no bounds; the people here faced severe oppression.” “Soon after the first round of counting, they started claiming that BJP was winning 195–200 seats. They did not even wait for the final results. BJP members forcibly entered polling stations and started assaulting people and counting agents.”
“We will take appropriate action against the Election Commission.” We will not tell at this time what we are going to do. Secondly, we have decided that a fact-finding committee will be formed, consisting of 10 members—including 5 MPs.”