NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee Tuesday refused to resign as West Bengal chief minister, asserting that she does not recognise the election outcome and claiming a “moral victory” for her party. “I was on the streets, I will be on the streets. I won’t leave the battlefield,” she said. Addressing her first presser after BJP’s landslide win, the outgoing CM alleged “large-scale manipulation” of the electoral process, which, she claimed, had been rigged by the EC, PM and Union home minister to ensure her party’s defeat. TMC won 80 seats in the 294-member assembly, while BJP’s tally was 207. Reacting to the statement, state EC CEO Manoj Agarwal said, “She has been MP, MLA multiple times. She understands constitutional laws better than most. How can I speak on this? The law applies to all.”
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Mamata Banerjee said, “We haven’t lost. We have been forcibly defeated. Our fight was not against BJP, we were fighting against EC. The chief election commissioner was the villain of this election. He looted democracy and the electoral process. This is murder of democracy.” Asked if she would resign, she shot back, “Morally, we have won the election. Why should I resign?” “This was like a fixed match — a set-up by EC and BJP. There was direct interference from the Union home minister and Prime Minister. They played a mischievous game,” she alleged. A 15- member committee of TMC MPs and MLAs will probe the alleged irregularities. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra described the TMC chief ’s refusal to resign as an “attack on Constitution and its architect, B R Ambedkar”. “When a CM or Prime Minister loses, they resign. Transfer of power has always taken place peacefully in India for 75 years. But what Mamata Banerjee has said and done, I must say with regret that this tradition has been hurt. This is not an attack on BJP but on democracy,” the BJP spokesperson said. Former Bengal advocategeneral Jayanta Mitra said, “The CM came to office with the sanction of people. If she loses people’s confidence, she has to resign. The governor can dismiss her under Article 164 of Constitution (if she does not quit).” BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee in her home turf Bhowanipore, said, “Everything is mentioned in the Constitution. I need not say much.” BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “Such a joke does not merit any response. We do not want to waste a word on those who have no respect for the Constitution.”
