'No Chappa, No Jamming': ECI's 'Straight Talk' To TMC Ahead Of West Bengal Elections, Party Replies

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) engaged in a heated public exchange on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming state Assembly elections. A tensed meeting was held between TMC and ECI, following which they issued “straight talk” to each other. Here's what happened:

The Tensed 5-Minute Meeting

ECI officials, including Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and TMC leaders, including Derek O'Brien, Sagarika Ghosh and Saket Gokhale, attended a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. Following the meeting, Brien alleged that the meeting lasted for only five minutes, starting at 10:02 AM and ending at 10:07 AM.

'We Were Told To ‘Get Lost’'

Brien said, “Today, we went to the Chief Election Commissioner. He told us 'get lost' within 7 minutes of the meeting.” Brien said that the TMC leaders asked Gyanesh Kumar why ECI is transferring officials, and how he would want to conduct a free and fair election. “And then he said, leave from here…What I saw today is a shame,” Brien added.

Further, he challenged the Election Commission pf India (ECI) to release the video or audio of what happened at the meeting.

TMC claimed that ECI officials “brazenly disrespected the TMC delegation and asked them to vacate the premises”.

Brien Shouted At The Meeting?

Meanwhile, ECI sources claimed that TMC MP Derek O'Brien shouted at Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, who requested Brien to maintain decorum, stating that shouting and inappropriate behaviour are unacceptable in the Commission's premises.

ECI's ‘Straight Talk’ To TMC

Following the meeting, ECI took to social media platform X to issue a “straight talk” to TMC. The commission called for a violence free election with no booth jamming.

The ECI's post read, "ECI's Straight-talk to Trinamool Congress

This time, the Elections in West Bengal would surely be :

Fear-free,
Violence-free,
Intimidation-free,
Inducement-free 
and without any Chappa, Booth Jamming and Source Jamming."

TMC's Straight Talk To ECI

TMC soon hit back at ECI and issued its own “straight talk” to the central body.

In a post on X, TMC said, "Our straight-talk to ECI

This time, the Elections must be:

Free from Delhi’s control.
Free from political bias,
Free from selective targeting,
And free from double standards."

The West Bengal elections will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The results will be declared on May 4.

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