BJP will win Bengal election with over 200 seats: Shah
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the saffron party will win the West Bengal elections with more than 200 seats. The first phase of Assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal was held on Saturday. Shah also questioned how an alleged recording of a phone call involving BJP leader Mukul Roy was leaked.
BJP will win 26 seats polled in Bengal yesterday: Shah
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Shah thanked the people of Assam and West Bengal for voting for the BJP. Out of the 30 Assembly seats that went to poll in West Bengal on Saturday, Shah said the BJP will secure 26. In Assam, the BJP is confident to secure 37 of the 47 seats that went to poll on Saturday, he added.
'BJP will form government in Bengal with over 200 seats'
Shah further said that West Bengal saw an election being held without any violence for the first time in many years. "The BJP will form the government in West Bengal with more than 200 seats," he said.
Votes to be counted on May 2
The Assam election will be held in three phases: March 27 (47 seats), April 1 (39), and April 6 (40). The eight-phase West Bengal election will be held on March 27 (30 seats), April 1 (30), April 6 (31), April 10 (44), April 17 (45), April 22 (43), April 26 (36), and April 29 (35). The votes will be counted on May 2.
West Bengal recorded nearly 80% voter turnout yesterday
According to the Election Commission (EC), West Bengal recorded a massive voter turnout of 79.79% till 5 pm on Saturday. Meanwhile, Assam recorded a voter turnout of 72.14% till 5 pm on Saturday, the commission said.
Shah asks, 'Who tapped Roy's phone call?'
On the subject of a leaked phone call allegedly between BJP's Roy and Shishir Bajoria, Shah said, "Two BJP leaders were discussing over a phone call the demands made for transfer (of officers). These demands were made in writing. There is nothing secret in this." "The question which needs to be raised is that who tapped the phone call," Shah added.
What was the leaked phone call?
In the leaked conversation, Roy apparently tells Bajoria that they must approach the EC to seek administrative orders permitting any voter anywhere in Bengal to be booth agents at any booth in the state. The clip was released by the Trinamool Congress—the ruling party in West Bengal—that said the EC acted as described in the call thereafter, alleging BJP's influence over the polling body.
