The Election Commission announced assembly elections in five states last Sunday. With the announcement of elections, different parties have also started declaring their candidates. The assembly elections of West Bengal are being discussed the most. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also released her party’s election manifesto. This week’s news was discussed in Khiladi. Senior journalists Ramkripal Singh, Vinod Agnihotri, Piyush Pant, Awadhesh Kumar, Ajay Setia and Anurag Verma were present for the discussion.
Ramkripal Singh: The politics of electoral violence has been prevalent in Bengal since the time of Siddharth Shankar Ray. There are reports of election violence in Bengal in every phase of elections. The Election Commission has taken a good initiative by announcing voting in two phases. I hope that this time there may be less news of violence as compared to the last elections. Bringing the two national parties Congress and CPI(M) to zero in the assembly elections in West Bengal is a big success of BJP in the last elections.
Ajay Setia: When every party contests elections, it wants to reach power. There is a tougher competition this time compared to 2021. BJP has reached 77 in Bengal, so it will increase further also. There will definitely be an issue of polarization in a state with 30 percent Muslim population. As far as controlling violence is concerned, the Election Commission is working on it in its own way.
Piyush Pant: If you remain in power for a long time, the Indian system becomes a victim of corruption. We should accept this. This is an issue in elections. If only one party remains in power continuously, the system becomes lethargic. All governments have to face this. Governments are also victims of this. In many cases, governments also support it, this cannot be denied.
Anurag Verma: The equation of Muslims and women has been very effective for Mamata Banerjee. Left and Congress are also eyeing this vote bank. But this vote bank of Mamta is intact. This time it seems from the words of Congress that it is trying to contest this election seriously. It remains to be seen how much Owaisi and Humayun Kabir will dent Mamata in this election.
Avadhesh Kumar: BJP should naturally dream of ruling West Bengal. From Hindu Mahasabha to Jan Sangh and RSS, there is a long history here. Mamata Banerjee has very strategically made SIR an issue in this election. Mamta has made this the biggest issue. He has made the issue of collusion between BJP and Election Commission. In 2021, the difference in votes between the two parties was around 60 lakhs. This time the votes cast in SIR are around 63 lakh.
Vinod Agnihotri: The picture of Bengal elections is almost the same as it was in the 2021 assembly elections. There has not been much change in the circumstances. I have never considered SIR as an election issue, because for the one whose name appears in the voter list, it will not be an election issue, and the one whose name is struck off will not be able to vote in the elections, so how will he influence the elections. If we assume that all the votes that will be deducted are from Mamata Banerjee, then it would be wrong.
