Trinamool Congress, which tried to create a nationwide debate by alleging ‘vote looting’ after the Bengal Assembly election results, now seems to be on the back foot.
While party chief Mamata Banerjee had claimed that BJP had looted votes on at least 150 seats, now the party is barely able to prepare to file a case on 50 seats.
The biggest hurdle in this legal stance is the defeated Trinamool candidates themselves, who are no longer ready to get into court trouble again.
According to sources, amid the huge disappointment and organizational disintegration that arose after the defeat, most of the defeated candidates have made it clear to the leadership that when the BJP has formed the government, there will be no political benefit from this legal battle. This will not bring Trinamool back to power.
However, Mamata Banerjee is sticking to the strategy of filing petitions as soon as the court opens in the first week of June, because as per rules, petitions can be filed only within 45 days of the result (by June 20).
In this case, Trinamool is mainly weaponizing the discrepancies in the process of deletion and ‘adjudication’. The party argues that where BJP’s victory margin was 10 to 30 thousand, the names of thousands of voters were deliberately deleted.
Apart from this, there are preparations to challenge in the court the CCTV footage of misbehavior with the counting agents on the day of counting and technical doubts like EVMs being charged up to 90 percent. According to State Vice President Jayprakash Majumdar, this fight is not just about victory or defeat, but about saving the credibility of the party.