West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee urges EC with 'folded hands' to curtail poll schedule amid COVID-19 crisis

WB CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the Election Commission to curtail the poll schedule for the remaining three phases of the ongoing Assembly election in the state.

Kolkata: Amid a firece second wave of coronavirus in the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (April 19, 2021) urged the Election Commission (EC) to curtail the poll schedule for the remaining three phases of the ongoing Assembly election in the state. 

Banerjee urged the poll panel to re-consider its decision to stick to the original poll schedule and stressed that the last three phases of polls on a single day or at the most in two days would check the spread of COVID-19 to some extent.

"With folded hands, I request the EC to hold the next three phases on a single day. If not one day, conduct it in two days and save one day. Please don't take your decision based on what the BJP says... Please ensure that you protect public health by curtailing the poll schedule, even if it is by one day," the TMC supremo was quoted as saying by PTI.

Further, the CM said that she and other leaders of her party would not hold any rally in congested places. She charged the Narendra Modi-led government for "not taking adequate measures in the past six months to avert vaccine crisis".

Banerjee declared summer vacation of all students across the schools in the state. The vacation will start from Tuesday (April 20) and continue till June. The decision to announce early vacation has been taken in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

“We have decided to start summer vacation for all schools from tomorrow till June,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by ANI.

Meanwhile, the last phases of polls in West Bengal are scheduled to be held on April 22, 26, and 29. The ruling TMC had opposed the EC’s decision to conduct elections in eight phases at a time when the number of coronavirus disease cases rose exponentially.

Banerjee took to Twitter on April 15 to urge the commission to hold the remaining phases of polls at one go.