Private bank submits details of TMC’s debit-frozen accounts; Calcutta HC adjourns hearing till July 9
Justice Bhattacharyya had on July 2 directed the private bank to disclose the corpus held in those accounts. The court did not open the report because the hearing was adjourned. The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in a plea filed by the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee-led faction, challenging the debit-freeze on three accounts of the party, even as the private bank submitted details regarding the corpus fund held in the accounts. Taking note of personal difficulty expressed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Bidhannagar police in this matter, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya adjourned the hearing until Thursday. Justice Bhattacharyya had on July 2 directed the private bank to disclose the corpus held in those accounts. The court did not open the report that was submitted because the hearing was adjourned. Bringing to the court’s notice that a few more bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress have also been debit-frozen, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction’s lawyer Kishore Dutta stated that he will file a supplementary affidavit in this regard on the next date of hearing. Justice Bhattacharyya said he is contemplating appointment of retired Calcutta High Court Judge Subrata Talukdar as a special officer over the debit-frozen bank accounts, but since his son represents one of the respondents as lawyer, he would seek the views of the parties in the matter if appointment of special officer is finally directed. Justice Bhattacharyya had on July 2 said the court is contemplating whether these three accounts can be allowed to be operated by joint special officers, who would be retired judges of the court, during the pendency of the petition. Justice Bhattacharyya, during the hearing on July 2, also allowed the Bidhannagar Police to place records before the court on the next date regarding the complaint and the investigation into the resultant FIR. The debit operations of three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress have been frozen following complaints by rebel party MLAs seeking a probe into the source of the funds. Some MLAs aligned with the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC complained to the cyber crime police station of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, seeking a detailed investigation into the accounts. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
ED freezes Rs 440 crore in TMC’s bank accounts over aircraft leasing probe
The agency said the frozen funds were held in three HDFC Bank accounts. NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen Rs 440.42 crore held in bank accounts belonging to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) as part of a money laundering investigation into chartered flights used by a senior party leader, the agency said on Wednesday. The ED conducted searches at five locations in and around Kolkata in West Bengal targeting private aviation firm Carewell Aviation, its directors and an electoral trust. The agency said the frozen funds were held in three HDFC Bank accounts. “Investigation revealed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from AITC bank accounts to M/s Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. and its related entity, mostly between April 2023 to June 2026,” the agency said in a statement. The federal agency further said that Carewell Aviation Pvt Ltd routed Rs 82.96 crore between 2023 and 2026 to another newly incorporated related entity to purchase an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand helicopter. A total of Rs 112 crore was used to make the purchases. The agency further found that a loan of USD 1.7 million was arranged in 2023 from a Cayman Islands-based entity as an unsecured loan to purchase the helicopter. The Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and the Agusta helicopter were subsequently leased to the AITC, even though they had been purchased using funds from the party’s corpus. Thereafter, substantial amounts were transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage. The ED said the arrangement was under investigation to ascertain the actual beneficial purpose of the transactions. The probe was initiated following a police complaint alleging that chartered flights used by TMC’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and a senior party leader, were funded through improperly collected money, agency sources said. The TMC has not yet issued a public response to the searches. The raids come amid an internal split within the party, which has led to a separate legal dispute over control of the TMC’s finances, now pending before the Calcutta High Court. The court declined on Tuesday to fast-track a related petition, court records showed. The ED said its investigation was continuing. Sumit Kumar Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Battle of real ‘TMC’ begins as rebel MPs merge with Nationalist Citizens Party
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The internal crisis in the Trinamool Congress appeared to intensify on Sunday after a group of dissident MPs claimed they had broken away from the party and announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party. The rebel MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and sought recognition as a separate group in Parliament. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed that two-thirds of the TMC’s Lok Sabha members had backed the move. “Two-thirds MPs of TMC have given a letter to the Speaker for a separate seating arrangement. We will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party and support the NDA,” she said. Senior TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the dissident group had already merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party, describing it as a regional party. The Nationalist Citizens Party is a lesser-known registered, unrecognised party from Tripura. The ‘real party disputes’ The move has triggered a fresh political battle over who represents the “real TMC”. Asked about the claim by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, Bandyopadhyay said the matter would ultimately be decided by courts. “Court will decide later who is the real TMC. We met the Speaker and gave him our request,” he said. He added that the faction would also stake claim to the party’s electoral symbol of two flowers. Meanwhile, TMC leaders Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghosh met Speaker Birla and submitted a letter from TMC Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee, urging him not to recognise any separate faction. The letter, dated June 10 and earlier sent through email, argued that the Constitution does not allow the creation of a separate group within an existing political party. It also said the anti-defection law does not permit such a split. Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal criticised the rebel MPs and called for their disqualification, arguing that they cannot merge with another party. Sibal said in a post on X, “TMC rebels: Will merge with Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP). Indian democracy has become the ‘theatre of the absurd’. A joke!” “The rebels of the TMC legislative party cannot merge with a political party; that can happen only if the TMC wished to do so!” he added. “Disqualify them!” he said. The earlier cases Shiv Sena split (2022-23): After the split between the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions, the Election Commission recognised the Shinde faction as the Shiv Sena and allowed it to retain the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol. Nationalist Congress Party split (2023-24): After Ajit Pawar’s rebellion, the Election Commission recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and allotted it the party’s “clock” symbol. AIADMK dispute (2017): After the split between the factions led by Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, the Election Commission decided that the Palaniswami faction was entitled to the AIADMK name and the “two leaves” symbol. Samajwadi Party dispute (2017): During the fight between Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav factions, the Election Commission recognised Akhilesh Yadav’s faction as the Samajwadi Party and allowed it to retain the “cycle” symbol. How are ‘real party’ disputes decided? The Election Commission decides disputes over a party’s name and election symbol by examining the claims of rival factions. In earlier cases, the poll panel has looked at factors including the support enjoyed by each faction among elected representatives and the party organisation before deciding which group can use the original party name and symbol. The EC’s decisions can later be challenged in courts. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Calcutta HC grants Abhishek Banerjee interim relief in signature forgery case
Justice Kausik Chanda granted the relief for three weeks and directed Banerjee to appear before the CID at its headquarters, Bhabani Bhaban, in Kolkata by 6 pm on Thursday for questioning. KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday interim protection from coercive action to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee in a signature forgery case linked to the party’s choice of Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. The court also directed him to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under the state police at Bhabani Bhaban by 6 pm to face the agency probing the case. It’s not yet known whether the nephew of the Trinamool Congress supremo and former Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will appear before the CID at Bhabani Bhaban. He went to Delhi on Saturday and met the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and is expected to return to Kolkata this afternoon. While hearing the case at the High Court on Thursday, Justice Kausik Chanda directed Abhishek Banerjee to appear before the CID at its Bhabani Bhaban headquarters in Kolkata by 6 pm on Thursday for questioning in the matter. The court also granted him protection from any coercive action for three weeks. The MP’s lawyer informed the court that Abhishek, the number two after Mamata in the Trinamool Congress, was scheduled to arrive in Kolkata from Delhi at around 4 pm. The court will hear the case again after two weeks. The CID has already served three notices separately to Abhishek asking him to appear before the investigating agency at Bhabani Bhaban but he didn’t face it showing medical ground and his busy schedules in Delhi till 9 June. He was brought under the scanner of the CID after serious allegations surrounding a meeting convened by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence to discuss the party’s choice for the Leader of Opposition post in the House. Abhishek wrote a letter armed with the meeting’s resolution signed by the party MLAs to the speaker Rathindranath Bose selecting Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, veteran legislator from the Ballygunj constituency in the city, as the LoP in the Trinamool legislature party. The controversy erupted after claims surfaced that signatures of several MLAs were affixed to related resolution copy despite their absence from the meeting, sparking a political row in West Bengal and prompting an investigation into alleged forgery. Based on the complaint lodged by two rebel Trinamool Congress MLAs Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay from Uluberia Purba in Howrah and Sandipan Saha from Entally in the city, with the speaker an FIR was filed by the House with Hare Street police station. With the directive of the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, a special investigation team (SIT) under the CID was formed to probe the alleged signature forgery case. The SIT has already interrogated several MLAs who have reportedly admitted that their signatures were affixed to the resolution copy though they absent in the meeting at Kalighat residence of Mamata Banerjee landing Trinamool Congress leadership in trouble particularly at a time when the party is grappling with unprecedented internal crisis after it suffered a crushing defeat to BJP winning only 80 out of 294 seats in the recent assembly polls in the state. Subhendu Maiti Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
TMC panchayat chief found dead at home in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas
The deceased, identified as Jahidul Haque Baidya, was the chief of Jadurhati Uttar Gram Panchayat in the Baduria area. KOLKATA: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat chief was found dead at his residence in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday, police said. The deceased, identified as Jahidul Haque Baidya, was the chief of Jadurhati Uttar Gram Panchayat in the Baduria area. According to police, Baidya’s body was discovered hanging from the ceiling of a room in his house on Tuesday morning. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. An officer from Baduria police station said an investigation is under way to determine whether the death was a case of suicide or if any other circumstances were involved. The incident has caused concern in the locality, where Baidya had recently faced allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public funds. On 31 May, local residents staged a protest outside his residence, alleging that a battery-operated waste collection vehicle procured under the Swachh Bharat Mission had been sold and the proceeds misused. The protesters had demanded his arrest and called for a thorough investigation into the allegations. Police said all possible angles are being examined and further inquiries are continuing. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
In another blow to Mamata Banerjee, 9 TMC councillors quit, Diamond Harbour municipal board dissolved
KOLKATA: In yet another setback for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) following its rout in the recent Bengal assembly elections, the board of Diamond Harbour municipality was dissolved on Sunday. This came after nine of the party’s councillors resigned, leading to the municipality going under administrative control. Diamond Harbour sub-divisional officer (SDO) Ayan Dattagupta has taken over as administrator of the civic body. It is the parliamentary constituency of Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banrejee. Eight of the nine councillors of the 16-ward municipality had sent in their resignations on May 25, while the ninth resigned on Sunday, leading to the dissolution of the board. They cited financial irregularities within the civic body, police harassment and intimidation as reasons for resigning. Administrative sources said municipal chairman Pranab Das forwarded the resignations to the state urban development and municipal affairs department, which then ordered the dissolution of the board. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Bengal education institutes witness rapid RSS-affiliates expansion after BJP’s rise to power
ABVP leaders said the student body was present in 96 colleges before polls, but in two weeks, this has grown to over 400, with informal networks springing up even before membership drives from June 9. KOLKATA: Barely three weeks after the BJP’s emphatic victory in West Bengal, the ideological churn inside the state’s educational institutes has begun unfolding with remarkable speed, as organisations affiliated to the RSS move aggressively to expand their footprint across campuses, staff rooms and academic networks long dominated by the Left and the TMC. From college canteens in north Bengal to university departments in Kolkata, a quiet but unmistakable realignment is underway. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which spent decades as a marginal force in Bengal’s student politics, is suddenly finding itself flooded with membership requests, WhatsApp enquiries and invitations to form campus units. Among teachers, professors and non-teaching staff, the Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal and the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM) are also reporting an unprecedented spike in outreach after the May 4 election results altered Bengal’s ideological and political landscape for the first time in nearly half a century. For years, the RSS ecosystem believed Bengal’s educational institutes were structurally hostile terrain where Left influence survived long after its electoral decline and where the TMC eventually built its own patronage networks through student unions, recruitment channels and campus-level control. The BJP’s victory has finally broken what one Sangh organiser described as the “psychological resistance barrier”. “It is from the land of Bengal where nationalism, which is Hindu nationalism, and ‘Vande Mataram’ (song) originated. For several decades, there was an effort to ensure that we forget our history, culture and roots. Now Bengal has decided to go back to its roots,” senior RSS leader Jishnu Basu told PTI, articulating the broader ideological confidence sweeping through Sangh circles after the election outcome. ABVP leaders claimed the student body had a presence in only 96 colleges before the election results. In just over two weeks, they said that number has crossed 400, with informal networks springing up even before formal membership drives will begin on June 9. “Many students from various colleges and universities are in touch with us and want to join ABVP and open ABVP units in their colleges or universities. But unlike TMCP, joining ABVP requires following proper procedure and scrutiny before induction,” ABVP South Bengal secretary Nilkantha Bhattacharya told PTI. In many campuses, instead of immediately announcing committees, ABVP organisers have opened WhatsApp groups, creating digital spaces for interested students while screening potential entrants. Unlike the BJP, which has temporarily halted mass induction amid fears of an influx of opportunistic entrants from rival parties, RSS affiliates are expanding carefully but steadily, attempting to balance rapid growth with ideological filtration. ABVP leaders privately admitted that many students now approaching them were until recently associated with the TMCP, the students’ wing of the TMC, and in some places with SFI, the students’ arm of the CPI(M). But they insisted that controversial figures accused of extortion, intimidation or involvement in admission rackets will not be accommodated. The Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, primarily involved in education policy and intellectual discourse, has traditionally been less focused on numerical expansion. But its office-bearers argued that Bengal requires exceptional mobilisation because the state resisted implementation of the National Education Policy for years, despite many of its recommendations emerging from consultations involving ‘shikshan mandal’ thinkers. The ABRMS claimed its membership in Bengal, once below 10,000, may now cross one lakh as schoolteachers, college staff, and university employees increasingly seek association with groups perceived to be aligned with the new power structure. “Our network already has a presence across most blocks and educational circles in the state, but the post-election momentum has dramatically accelerated recruitment in districts where Sangh affiliates earlier struggled to gain institutional legitimacy,” state general secretary Bapi Pramanik told. Political observers saw the development as part of a deeper ideological consolidation project accompanying the BJP’s historic win in Bengal. For the Sangh, capturing administrative power was only one milestone. The more enduring battle, its strategists have long argued internally, lies inside classrooms, curriculum, teachers’ associations and student consciousness. That is why, even as the BJP leadership publicly speaks of governance and development, the Sangh ecosystem is quietly investing organisational energy into educational institutions, historically among the toughest arenas for Hindutva politics in Bengal. The immediate impact may remain organisational. But the longer-term implications could reshape the ideological character of Bengal’s campuses in ways unseen since the Left’s rise through colleges and universities in the 1960s and 1970s. Already, in several districts, teachers once reluctant to publicly associate with Sangh-linked bodies are attending closed-door orientation sessions, while students who previously avoided ABVP rallies for fear of political isolation are now volunteering to organise events themselves. Opposition parties dismissed the surge as a temporary byproduct of regime change and argued that institutional influence built over decades cannot be dismantled within weeks. Yet even critics privately conceded that the change in mood inside campuses is palpable. For the RSS and its affiliates, Bengal’s educational institutes are no longer merely hostile territory where survival itself was an achievement. After years of operating from the margins, they now sense a rare political opening to move from resistance to dominance within Bengal’s academic space. Whether that transformation sustains itself beyond the post-election euphoria may determine if Bengal’s next political generation continues to inherit the state’s ideological traditions or gradually shifts towards a nationalist political culture. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Kolkata civic body issues notices to Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee seeking property documents
The notices were issued under Section 400(1) of the KMC Act, 1980, which allows owners of allegedly illegal constructions an opportunity to appear before civic authorities and present their case. KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress-ruled Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued notices to Abhishek Banerjee, party’s all India general secretary and MP from Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha (LS) constituency in West Bengal asking him to submit plans of around 21 landed properties to the KMC soon, according to highly-placed sources at the civic body. Sources requesting anonymity said that the KMC’s building department has issued the notices seeking to verify whether the construction works come up on these land match with building plans approved by the corporation concerned. The MP has also been asked to produce the necessary documents in connection with building plans and construction works of these properties allegedly linked to a company named ‘Leaps and Bounds’, sources said. The KMC authorities wanted to know whether these properties are legal. The civic body headed by the Trinamool Congress MLA Firhad Hakim as its mayor served notices on the properties owned by Abhishek or linked to him, asking him or his representatives to appear for a hearing with approved building plans, civic body sources said. The properties include 188A Harish Mukherjee Road, Abhishek’s residence, and an adjacent building on Kalighat Road. The notices were issued under Section 400(1) of the KMC Act, 1980, which allows owners of allegedly illegal constructions an opportunity to appear before civic authorities and present their case. An official said the notices followed an internal inquiry by the KMC that found deviations from sanctioned building plans. “We served notices on properties owned by Abhishek Banerjee or having links with him. Some notices were pasted on the facades of the buildings, while others were handed over to people present there. The owners have been asked to appear before the special officer (building) at the KMC headquarters. They can also send their representatives,” an official of the KMC said. Following an instruction of the Suvendu Adhiokari-led first-ever BJP government in West Bengal, the KMC has prepared a list of properties belonging to Abhishek Banerjee individually or jointly with other partners in the KMC area. Neither Abhishek nor his secretary Sumit Roy responded to the WhatsApp messages sent to them by TNIE on Monday seeking their reactions on the matter. The notices were served on Monday evening, around the same time Suvendu speaking at BJP’s victory celebration rally on Camac Street where Abhishek’s office is located, said he had directed senior government officials to obtain property details of four Trinamool leaders, including the Diamond Harbour MP and number two after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. “I had asked the secretary of the municipal affairs department and the commissioner of the KMC (to obtain property details) of four persons,” Suvendu said at the rally before naming them. The first one is Beleghata’s Raju Naskar, who has 18 properties recorded in his name. Second is Kasba’s Sona Pappu, who has 24 properties. Third is ‘Bhatija’ (nephew) Abhishek Banerjee. There are 14 properties registered in the name of the Leaps and Bounds company, four in his own name and six in the name of his father, according to the CM Suvendu. The fourth is the son of Javed Khan, Trinamool Congress’ three-time MLA from Kasba constituency, who has 90 properties, Suvendu claimed. Suvendu had made similar allegations against Abhishek on Saturday when he was addressing a rally for re-election in Falta constituency under the Diamond Harbour LS seat sharpening attacks on Mamata and her nephew. He had also threatened to initiate inquiries against the former CM on the brutal rape and murder of a woman doctor at R G Kar Medical College Hospital and Abhishek’s alleged disproportionate properties. He alleged that Mamata during her regime had used three IPS officers to supress facts and tamper evidences related to the incident. Subhendu Maiti Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Mamata calls for TMC rebuild after Bengal polls, says ‘those who want to leave can go’
The TMC supremo said the organisation would rise again despite suffering a crushing defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections. After the TMC faced its worst electoral setback in years, party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged its candidates who contested the recent assembly polls to rebuild the organisation, asserting that those wishing to quit the party were free to do so. At a meeting with the Trinamool Congress’ contesting candidates at her Kalighat residence, attended by its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, she said the organisation would rise again despite suffering a crushing defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections. “Those who are leaving for other parties, let them go. I will rebuild the party afresh. To those who are staying, I say rebuild the damaged party offices, paint them and reopen them. If needed, I too will paint them. Trinamool Congress will never bow down. People’s mandate has been looted,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by party sources. The remarks came days after the TMC was reduced from the ruling party to the opposition benches following a dramatic reversal in electoral fortunes. Of the 294 assembly seats in the state, the party managed to win only 80. Mamata Banerjee herself suffered defeat in Bhabanipur, long considered her political bastion. The TMC had fielded candidates in 291 seats, leaving three seats in the Darjeeling hills to its ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by Anit Thapa. Of these, only 80 candidates emerged victorious, while 211 lost, including several heavyweight leaders and ministers. The meeting at Kalighat was convened for candidates who had contested the elections on the party’s ticket amid reports of internal discontent and speculation over possible defections after the electoral debacle. Saturday’s meeting echoed Banerjee’s remarks made a day after the results were declared. Addressing a press conference on May 5, she had said she was aware that some leaders might switch camps. “I know many will leave for other parties. They may have their own compulsions. I have nothing to say about that. Whoever wants to go may go. I do not believe in forcibly holding anyone back,” she had said. The TMC’s official X handle later posted photographs of the meeting and praised the contesting candidates for their fight during the election campaign. “Today, our Hon’ble Chairperson @MamataOfficial and our Hon’ble National General Secretary @abhishekaitc met with our contesting candidates, at Kalighat. They fought with unmatched courage despite facing unimaginable atrocities and relentless intimidation. The Trinamool Congress stands united as one family. We will never bow before those who loot the people’s mandate. Truth will prevail,” the party posted on X. The post also reiterated the party’s charge that the electoral mandate had been “stolen”, a claim repeatedly raised by TMC leaders after the poll results. Party insiders said Banerjee used the meeting to boost the morale of candidates who had contested the polls and send a message of unity amid a difficult phase for the organisation. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Rahul Gandhi alleges BJP-EC ‘collusion’ over key West Bengal appointments
In a post on X written in Hindi, Gandhi said, “In the BJP-EC’s ‘chor bazaar’, the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward.” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday criticised the appointment of former Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal as West Bengal’s new chief secretary and Subrata Gupta as adviser to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, alleging collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission. The Congress has claimed that the appointments reflected the “brazen collusion and connivance” between the Election Commission and the BJP. In a post on X written in Hindi, Gandhi said, “In the BJP-EC’s ‘chor bazaar’, the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward.” The opposition party had on Monday said that there is not even an attempt to keep the collusion discrete or concealed. Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, had said the BJP-led West Bengal government has appointed the erstwhile chief election officer Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer responsible for overseeing the recent Assembly elections in the state, as the new chief secretary. Similarly, Gupta, also a 1990-batch IAS officer who oversaw the SIR deletions in Bengal as the special roll observer, has been appointed the chief advisor to the Chief Minister, Ramesh pointed out. “These appointments reflect the brazen collusion and connivance between the ECI and the BJP. There is no longer even an attempt to keep the collusion discrete or concealed,” Ramesh said. The appointments are a testimony that the ECI was not impartial and acted exclusively to benefit the BJP, he alleged. An entire state went to the election with 27 lakh people being debarred from voting. This was tactfully executed by the ECI to create an electoral advantage for the BJP, Ramesh said. Agarwal, a West Bengal cadre officer, helmed the EC-mandated Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal in the run-up to the Assembly polls, in which around 91 lakh voters were removed from the voter list. The West Bengal government on Sunday carried out a bureaucratic reshuffle, appointing two IAS officers and seven WBCS (executive) officers in the chief minister’s office (CMO), according to official notifications. Gupta was appointed advisor to the chief minister, hours after he was sworn in, while Shantanu Bala was named his private secretary. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights