Election 2019: Mukul Roy termed the violence at Amit Shah's roadshow a "criminal conspiracy"

BJP leader Mukul Roy on Wednesday said that his party will obey the Election Commission's decision to cut short the campaign period in West Bengal by a day for the final phase of Lok Sabha elections.

"There is a political crisis in Bengal. EC takes special decisions when it feels the need. No violence was reported anywhere in the country during these Lok Sabha elections other than Bengal. EC took a decision that within 24 hours campaigning should be ended. We, the opposition will suffer the most. Yet, we will obey it," Mukul Roy said while addressing a press conference in Kolkata.

Earlier, Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar told media, "No election campaigning to be held in nine parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal, namely Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, South and North Kolkata, from 10 pm tomorrow till the conclusion of polls."

Campaigning was originally scheduled to end at 5 pm on Friday for the nine constituencies that will go to polls on May 19.

Mr Roy termed the violence at BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow "criminal conspiracy" by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"Yesterday's incident was a criminal conspiracy by her (Mamata Banerjee). The Chief Minister must answer. She said that there was no violence in Bengal. Did she forget Panchayat elections? Remember how people were stopped from casting their vote," he said.

Hitting back at Ms Banerjee's allegations that Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's statue was vandalised during Mr Shah's roadshow, Mr Roy said, "Vidyasagar does not only belong to Bengal as he is an international figure. They should not drag a figure like Vidyasagar into politics."

The BJP leader also questioned whether Ms Banerjee has permission to hold rallies.

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