"No Trend" Linking Covid Spike to Polls: BJP On Clubbing Phases In Bengal

The right accorded to 61 per cent of the state's candidates should be given to the remaining 39 per cent, the BJP said, urging the Election Commission to keep four rounds of voting in the interest of a level-playing field.

Opposing Mamata Banerjee's demand that the remaining four phases of the Bengal election be packed into one day of polling, the BJP today told the Election Commission that there was no sign so far that a "rise in Covid cases could be attributed to the democratic process". The right accorded to 61 per cent of the state's candidates should be given to the remaining 39 per cent, the BJP said, urging the Election Commission to keep four rounds of voting in the interest of a level-playing field. "Elections held recently do not reveal any trend by which rise in Covid cases can be attributed to democratic process," the ruling party said, assuring the Election body that it would follow Covid protocol. In consonance with these views were images of crowded BJP rallies and roadshows where there were hardly any masks or social distancing.