TMC sends fact-finding teams across Bengal, alleges attacks and killings after poll defeat

Trinamool Congress teams visited several areas of West Bengal to take stock of complaints related to post-poll violence and alleged election manipulations. TMC leadership claimed that at least 10 of their workers were “brutally murdered” after the election results. 

Three fact-finding teams from Kolkata which included many senior TMC leaders visited different parts of the State and spoke to several party workers. 

“They kept abusing us even after we did so much work for them. These are all BJP workers,” a female TMC worker from Hooghly said that she and her family came under attack after the elections concluded in the State. 

TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP, Dola Sen, who was part of one of the fact-finding teams said that their party workers and common people are also coming under attack by the BJP workers in the past few days. 

“They have broken many homes and overtaken many of our party offices. They are also trying to break up all the government bodies and offices… However, even after so much intimidation, our workers are not scared,” Ms. Sen said. She further added that they will submit their findings to the government and the High Court, where the TMC is fighting a case against the post-poll violence. 

“TMC counting agents beaten up badly across Bengal and thrown out of counting centres post 2 pm. (It was at 2 pm that all godi media channels in unison began to flash “BJP victory.”),” TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose claimed based on the fact-finding teams’ takeaways. 

West Bengal Minister Ashok Kirtania criticised the TMC’s fact-finding team and said that they have no relation to the “drama Mamata Banerjee” is doing. 

“Our CM has said in the Assembly that if any TMC worker is homeless due to post-poll issues, then submit their names to the DGP, they will be brought back… But the post-poll violence that happened with the BJP workers after 2021 elections, we will not let that go,” Mr. Kirtania said. 

Meanwhile, TMC chairperson and general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met with members of the party’s legal cell to fight the attack on their workers. 

“At a time when our workers are being brutally attacked, abused and subjected to relentless intimidation, we must stand united to protect their rights, uphold their dignity and secure justice for every victim of political violence,” an official statement from the TMC on their social media pages said. 

The party which went out of power after 15 years and lost by a huge margin to the BJP also claimed that over 3,000 of their workers were attacked after the final poll results, and at least 10 of them were killed. 

Two days back on May 14, Ms. Banerjee, the former CM of Bengal, appeared before the Calcutta High Court in a lawyer’s robe to argue a case filed by her party against the post-poll violence. 

The Calcutta High Court directed the police to ensure safe return of victims affected by violence. However, this episode has also left the Bar Council of India asking about the validity and status of Ms. Banerjee’s legal license to practice in courts.