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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday criticised opposition parties for allegedly targeting key democratic institutions, saying such actions strike at the core of Indian democracy.
In a post on X, Rijiju said, "All opposition parties have attacked the Govt. Agencies, EVMs, Election Commission, Media & now targeting the Judiciary. They don't realise that they are attacking the core of Indian democracy." He further asserted that the people of the country would respond to such actions. "Wait, People of India will give them a befitting reply, teach lifetime lesson!" the minister added. Rijiju's remark comes after the Election Commission of India has ordered that fresh voting will be held across all 285 polling stations in the Falta assembly constituency of West Bengal on May 21, even as repolling was held in 15 booths in the Paschim Magrahat and Diamond Harbour assembly constituencies on Saturday. According to the ECI, directives for fresh repolling have been given in Falta "on consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on April 29." Earlier on Saturday, the BJP delegation met with West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh visited the Netaji Indoor Stadium, which has strong rooms with EVMs. BJP candidate from Maniktala Assembly Constituency, Tapas Roy, who was part of the BJP's delegation to the CEO, said the Election Commission's rules and regulations regarding the seating arrangements for national and state party representatives in the counting hall must be strictly followed. "We came with three issues. In Bardhaman, where people were climbing the building from the outside up to the fifth floor, what were the CAPF and the district police doing? Second, in Pingla and Daspur, casual workers are being deployed for duties they shouldn't be assigned to. This must stop. Third, the Election Commission's rules and regulations regarding the seating arrangements for national and state party representatives in the counting hall must be strictly followed. The Returning Officer (RO), Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), observers, and counting officers must ensure this," he said. "Because of incidents like what happened in Falta, Abhishek (Banerjee) won by a margin of 7 lakh 11 thousand votes in Diamond Harbour. Even today in Falta, things happen that shouldn't have. People were prevented from voting; in Hindu villages, our mothers and sisters had to come out and protest," he added. (ANI)
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