WB elections 2021- Petition filed in SC seeking to ensure free, fair polls

New Delhi, December 23: Ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court today seeking to ensure free, fair Assembly elections in state 2021 and to provide protection to leaders of Opposition parties in the state. This is after Home Minister Amit Shah, as the BJP said, has decided to visit the state every month and stay there for a week during each visit.

 

 

While the matter regarding Shah's visit is still under consideration, his next visit to West Bengal is likely to be on January 12 next year. In his two-day visit to West Bengal last week, Shah took stock of his party's affairs in Bengal ahead of the 2021 assembly elections likely in April or May. The West Bengal Assembly term will expire on May 30.

 

Bengal has been the big challenge for Shah, who had set the state BJP unit a target of 200 of the 294 seats after the party's big victory in the northeast. BJP President JP Nadda was also on a day-long visit to North Bengal in October and came on a two-day tour to the state last week, while Amit Shah was in the state for two days in November.

 

On his first day of his visit to West Bengal, Shah went to the residence of Sanatan Singh at Balijhuri and had lunch there, sitting on the floor of the thatched house. A chunk of Shah's Day 2 visit in West Bengal was devoted to removing the "outsider" tag bestowed on the BJP by state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the former BJP chief picking Santiniketan as the centrepiece of his visit. '

 

Shah, whose party has been perennially targeting young voters, visited the university where he paid respects to the poet and visited several iconic buildings on the campus. At mid-day, Shah visited the home of a Baul singer. The Baul folk tradition is focused on the welfare of humanity, beyond caste and creed. During his November visit to the state, he had lunch at the residence of a tribal BJP worker in Bankura and the house of a matua community member in North 24 Parganas.