Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who lost the state to BJP yesterday after three consecutive terms in power, has refused to tender her resignation, creating an unprecedented crisis that is likely to land on Governor RN Ravi's desk for resolution.
Banerjee - who is at her fighting best when cornered and just yesterday, promised to fight like a "tiger cub" -- argued today that she has not lost the election and the mandate the BJP got was the result of "loot".
"I have not lost, so I will not go to Raj Bhavan. I will not tender resignation," she told reporters at a press conference this evening.
Way Ahead
While Banerjee's move can potentially bring down President's Rule on the state, sources in the Election Commission said this is not required if the winning party stakes claim and is invited by the Governor to form government before the term of the assembly ends.
The term of the West Bengal assembly ends on May 7 and the BJP could have just two more days to get the show on the road.
Banerjee said "Loot"
Yesterday, as the counting in her assembly constituency Bhabanipur drew towards an an end and it became clear that she has lost to her aide-turned-BJP-face Suvendu Adhikari, Banerjee alleged that 100 seats have been stolen in this election. It was "loot, loot, loot," she said.
Today, she accused the government and the Election Commission being complicit. Accusing the poll body of playing "nasty games" and said the Trinamool's real rival, is the commission and not the BJP.
Accusing the government of "direct interference", she said, "This is how they stole elections from Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar and now Bengal".
"This is not how democracy works. When the judiciary is not there, when Election Commission is biased and the government wants one-party rule, a wrong message is going to the world," she said.
The 71-year-old also said she was assaulted at a polling station and that was why she could not meet the media yesterday. "I was kicked in the belly and back. The CCTV was off. I was pushed out of the counting station. As a woman I was misbehaved with," she said.
"If Central forces can behave like this. I have nothing to say. I have seen former BJP governments at the Centre. But nothing like this," she said.
Banerjee refused to reveal her party's strategy for the coming days but said the leaders of INDIA bloc have contacted her and she has their backing. She however, said her party will form a fact-finding committee with five MPs and others to go to places where the Trinamool is being attacked and party offices which have been vandalised.
Banerjee Gets Unexpected Support
Earlier today, Congress's Rahul Gandhi, whose party, despite being under the same umbrella at the Centre is Trinamool's arch-rival in the state, accused the BJP of "vote theft" in Bengal.
In a post on X, he said, "Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC's loss. They need to understand this clearly - the theft of Assam and Bengal's mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy. Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India".
Yesterday too, Gandhi had backed Mamata Banerjee's claims of loot of 100 seats.
"Assam and Bengal are clear cases of the election being stolen by the BJP with the support of the EC. We agree with Mamata ji. More than 100 seats were stolen in Bengal. We have seen this playbook before: Madhya Pradesh. Haryana. Maharashtra. Lok Sabha 2024 etc," his post read.
