The Election Commission move to curtail the campaign by 24 hours and permitted till 10 pm on Thursday saw a angry reaction from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

She held a press conference after the EC’s announcement, calling the clamping of Article 324 a gift by the poll panel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is no such law and order problem in West Bengal that Article 324 can be clamped… This is not EC’s direction; it is the BJP’s direction. This is the direction of Narendra Modi and (BJP chief) Amit Shah. The EC’s decision is unfair, unethical and politically biased,” she told reporters in Kolkata.

Other opposition leader seem to back Mamata . Congress leader Ahmed Patel and CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury asked why the poll panel chose to let campaigning continue till 10 pm on Thursday despite having taken note of the violence.

Patel in tweet wrote , If situation in Bengal is so severe that campaigning must be stopped, why is EC waiting until tomorrow? Is it because PM has scheduled rallies tomorrow?

If situation in Bengal is so severe that campaigning must be stopped, why is EC waiting until tomorrow? Is it because PM has scheduled rallies tomorrow? — Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) May 15, 2019

Yechury also said that the poll panel should’ve first acted against the perpetrators of violence before deciding to bar campaigning.

Yechury also in a tweet wondered whether the 10 pm slot was fixed to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to complete his two rallies

If a ban is intended for 72 hours, why is it starting at 10pm tomorrow? Is it to allow the two rallies of the PM before that? https://t.co/wn6MqmmrhD — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 15, 2019