Calcutta Corner

Democracy's Black Day
In Bengal, the last day of polling is being referred to as a "Black Day for Democracy." In what political observers are calling "unprecedented violence", voters have not just been intimidated and told to stay off the booths, but at least four people have been shot at, several thrown bombs at and many brutally beaten up. Seventeen people have been seriously injured. Comparing the scenes of violence to "a war-like situation" a television channel ran footage that showed injured people lying on the streets, bleeding, people writhing in pain, being ferried to hospitals and even being beaten up. 

Voting Instructions
Mass scale "rigging" has also been reported in the last phase of elections in Bengal. Forty to fifty incidents of "interference" in the voting process have been brought to light with fears that there may be many more unreported instances. In one instance, hidden cameras showed a ruling party worker named Farak Mullah standing inside a booth instructing each and every voter about which symbol to stamp on. In Kamduni, which had gained notoriety as the place where a college student was raped and killed, the presiding officer was instructed by alleged TMC workers to "take rest" while they occupied his chair and told voters where to put their vote.

Voted But Not Inked
In an interesting turn of events, when yesteryear actor Ranjit Mullick, who has been appointed the Sheriff of Calcutta by the current government went to vote, he found that his ballot had already been cast. Though not by him. When he told his wife, she told him that her vote too had been cast. And not by her. Shocked, the actor said, "In fifty years this is the first time I could not vote. It's my fundamental right but there is nothing that I can do about it. This is the most disturbing aspect of it." His daughter actress Koel Mullick, however, was able to cast her vote. In another booth, one of Koel's co-actors, Deb, who is a high profile Trinamool candidate, was caught trying to jump the queue to the front of the line but other voters created a ruckus and he had to go right back to the end of the line.

BJP's Rise in Bengal
Who would have thought that BJP would suddenly become so big in Bengal? But that's what has happened. Even as late as January this year, when Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had kick-started her campaign in Calcutta's Brigade Parade ground, he was just a minor reference in her speech. "The face of communalism" she called him. However, with Modi setting foot in Calcutta before each of the poll phases in Bengal to campaign for his party's candidates and with his popularity going up in leaps and bounds in a state starved for alternatives, Mamata's campaign speeches suddenly became full political venom against the Gujarat chief minister. Though speculation is rife in political circles about a secret Mamata-Modi post-poll tie-up but it is unlikely that Mamata would want to allow Modi to walk into her state and walk out with more MPs than even he bargained for. Also, if she sides with the BJP after the polls, she still has to face her Muslim voters in the Assembly elections in the state two years down the line. And the biggest indicator that Didi may not actually be in any secret tie up with Namo is his sudden massive popularity in Bengal. At his  last election rally in Barasat to campaign for BJP candidate PC Sorcar Jr. there was a record turn out of nearly forty thousand people, never before heard of for BJP in Bengal. 

Poll Predictions
Contrary to Trinamool Congress's earlier claims that it would win all 42 seats from Bengal, most predictions gave it seats between 28 to 32. However, after the last day of polls, one of the same pundits have brought the TMC figure down to about 24. The Left has been granted about 12 by the same survey. BJP would get one, it claims. That leaves five for the Congress. Another survey says, TMC – 20; Left-15; Congress-5 and BJP-2.