Buoyed by her party’s victory in the civic polls, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday renewed her demand for early Assembly elections. “These results are a clear vote of no trust against the Left Front which has lost its moral right to rule the state,” she said, adding that it should step down and seek fresh mandate
from the people. The Trinamul Congress chief also claimed that her party was in a position to form civic boards in 50 of the 81 municipalities where elections were held on May 30.
Ms Banerjee, who had virtually projected the civic polls as the referendum on the Left Front government, said that the Assembly elections could be advanced. “I still maintain that the Assembly elections could be held six months before they are due without dismissing the state government and without imposing the President’s rule. I have heard that Assembly polls would be held in some states in October. It is for the Election Commission to decide whether it can hold fresh polls in this state where the government has stopped functioning,” she added.
To substantiate her argument, the Trinamul Congress chief cited the people’s verdict. “Since the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, the people’s mandate has gone clearly against the Left Front. It has been rejected by the people in all the elections held in the past one year,” she added.
In the run up to the civic polls, Ms Banerjee had declared that the Assembly polls would be held three months later. Her party would now step up her demand both in Kolkata and New Delhi. Echoing her views, Trinamul Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said: “I advise chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to read the writing on the wall and quit. It is clearly a vote of no trust in his government.”
The Left Front, however, rejected the Trinamul Congress demand. “The question does not arise,” CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said when asked to comment on Ms Banerjee’s demand. He argued that in the civic polls, barely 17 per cent of the people took part. “How can the results of these elections be considered the collective view of the people of the entire state?” he asked.