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Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday alleged that people in West Bengal voted under pressure during the elections and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of undermining democratic processes in the state.
Addressing reporters in Kolkata, Yadav claimed that democracy had been weakened through excessive pressure and the large-scale deployment of central forces during the polls. The Samajwadi Party president further alleged that the BJP had "damaged democracy" and could not tolerate the rise of women in politics. "What has happened in Bengal. A way has been found to destroy democracy. No one has probably damaged democracy as much as the BJP has. They can never see a woman rising. Voting has indeed taken place here, but people have voted more under pressure than of their own will," Yadav said. He also raised concerns over alleged incidents of violence during the elections and questioned accountability in cases involving attacks on political workers and damage to party offices. "Someone close to losing their life or the behaviour towards political workers and burning down TMC's party office and the treatment of their workers, whose responsibility is this? Who took the responsibility of providing this security? The Election Commission? The country's Home Minister?" Yadav told reporters. Referring to the deployment of security personnel during the elections, the SP chief alleged that an unusually large number of central forces had been stationed in West Bengal, creating what he termed a "parallel structure" during the polls. "They said they had sent lakhs of central forces. I heard that more than three lakhs central forces were sent here and a parallel structure was created. A parallel structure. And in that, a large number of people from UP (Uttar Pradesh) were also there," he said. Yadav further claimed that several personnel from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had been deployed in the state for election duty. "People from UP were there in large numbers. And I even have information that for the Bengal elections, the central forces that came were from UP and Bihar. They were brought here from the borders. When elections are held in UP, forces from Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal will go," SP Chief added." (ANI)
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