Election Commission to hold a meeting with West Bengal observers via video conferencing over poll violence

The Election Commission of India will hold an internal meeting over Bengal violence on Wednesday at 11.30 am. The meeting will be held via video conferencing with the West Bengal Observers.

Following clashes during Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday, the BJP president is going to hold a media briefing at 11.00 am at BJP headquarters in New Delhi. The BJP had complained to the Election Commission to ban Mamata Banerjee's rallies. The party will also hold a protest at 10.30 am in Jantar Mantar.

Violent clashes had broken out during BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow in the heart of Kolkata, as sticks were hurled at Shah’s truck and even at the Police who were manning the crowd.  

In an attempt to the disrupt the roadshow, the attackers began hitting the Police and along with that, waved  black flags, held placards and raised anti-BJP slogans outside the University of Calcutta. 

Soon after, a scuffle broke out between the miscreants and the BJP workers, following which the Police resorted to lathi-charge. 

READ | Mamata Banerjee Denies Trinamool Role In Violence At Amit Shah's Kolkata Roadshow, Says BJP Hired Goons For 'danga Politics' And That She Will Protest Against It

In the aftermath of the violent clashes, a BJP delegation led by Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met the Election Commission in New Delhi and demanded that CM Mamata Banerjee should be banned from election campaigning ahead of the seventh and final phase of the polls. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made fiery remarks at Vidyasagar College on Tuesday evening after arriving at the location where just hours earlier, violent clashes had broken out at the roadshow of BJP party chief Amit Shah.

She targeted Amit Shah directly, asking whether protesting against him wasn't allowed. 'Don't people protest against me?,' she asked. Going on to deny any Trinamool hand in the violence, Mamata Banerjee counter-accused the BJP of 'unleashing goons' inside Calcutta University to attack students there.

READ | Following Clashes At His Kolkata Rally, BJP President Amit Shah To Hold Media Briefing At Party Headquarters