West Bengal Politics: Despite Heavy Defeat, Mamata Banerjee Refuses To Resign As Chief Minister
· Free Press Journal
The firebrand Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s assertion that she will not resign from the chief ministership of the pivotal eastern state of West Bengal is, in itself, constitutionally unacceptable. A sitting chief minister is required to step down once an election process is concluded, however contested it might be.
She would do well to remember her own personal icon — Indira Gandhi — did not hesitate to step down from the prime minister’s chair when the Congress lost the litmus test in 1977. However, her contention that the “gold standard” of elections may not have been met in West Bengal in the recently held elections does merit closer scrutiny.
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Electoral arithmetic and voter exclusion concerns
The electoral arithmetic underscores the reasons why the fiery politician is alleging that this election was an attempt to take her on “through the Election Commission”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 45.84 per cent of the vote, amounting to approximately 29.22 million ballots. The All India Trinamool Congress, by contrast, polled 40.80 per cent, or about 26.01 million votes. The gap, therefore, was a relatively narrow five percentage points or roughly 2.8 million votes.
Against this backdrop, the claim that as many as 9.4 million names were excluded from the electoral rolls assumes significance. Even after discounting those who were deceased, duplicated, or had migrated out of the state, a substantial number may still represent eligible voters.
Notably, around 3.4 million individuals are understood to have applied to the Election Commission of India for inclusion, submitting proof of citizenship and residence. Yet, most of these applications reportedly remained under adjudication even as polling took place.
Debate over electoral fairness intensifies
This raises a critical question: Were a significant number of eligible voters effectively denied participation in an election where the margin was comparatively slim? While it is impossible to determine definitively whether their inclusion would have altered the outcome, the procedural concern itself cannot be dismissed lightly.
It is precisely this line of inquiry that Rahul Gandhi has sought to foreground by invoking the charge of “vote stealing”. Whether that claim is borne out by evidence remains to be established. But the underlying questions about voter inclusion, administrative transparency, and electoral fairness are not only legitimate but also necessary in any functioning democracy.
Concerns mount over post-poll violence
Perhaps equally disturbing are reports that the post-poll violence, about which the BJP had earlier complained in 2021, is being enacted with an equally ugly face this time round.
Disturbing scenes of saffron flag-bearing workers attacking TMC supporters or office bearers, vandalising and looting Trinamool party offices, university student union offices, and even one of Vladimir Lenin’s statues being broken down are appearing on social media along with right-wing sloganeering and bulldozers being paraded.
The cycle of violence must be broken if politics is to be mended. Else, West Bengal, and indeed the Indian nation-state as a whole, risk sinking to the levels of the poorest African nations, where every political change is accompanied by death and retribution, if not civil war.