Kolkata, April 29 (IANS) The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said on Wednesday that he is confident of his success even in the polling booth in Bhabanipur constituency in South Kolkata, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, who is the Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member, cast their votes.

Mamata Banerjee is the sitting MLA and the Trinamool Congress candidate and also a voter from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, where she is pitted this time against Suvendu Adhikari.

On Wednesday, Adhikari arrived at the polling booth of Mitra Institution within that constituency, interacted with the voters and finally left after claiming that since the polling process had been peaceful there, he is confident of his lead from this booth as well.

“We have got information that at a particular polling booth at Falta in South 24 Parganas district, the EVM button for the BJP candidate was covered by a tape. The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, called me up today, and I reported the matter to him. Our party’s central observer for West Bengal and the party’s Information Technology Chief, Amit Malviya, has sought to bring the matter to the notice of the Election Commission of India (ECI), which has promised to take action in the matter,” Adhikari told media persons.

Meanwhile, the ECI has sought a report from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, on the incident. The CEO’s office has also claimed that if reports of taping of any button come in, that should be verified and noted. “If true, those booths will go for a re-polling,” the ECI had claimed.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has continued with her canards against the central forces deployed for the second phase of polling for 142 Assembly constituencies on Wednesday, scattered over six districts and the state capital, Kolkata.

“The central forces are acting like the agents of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and they are selectively targeting Trinamool Congress leaders and workers since Tuesday night. They have arrested many of our agents on Tuesday night.

–IANS

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