Early End to Campaigning in West Bengal & More Updates From 16 May

In a first, the Election Commission invoked article 324 and announced that campaigning for the last 9 seats in West Bengal will end on 16 May, 10 pm, a day before the scheduled deadline. The state is set to go to polls on 19 May, the seventh and last phase of elections. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the decision “unethical” and accused the EC of working for Modi. She said the timing of the ban allows PM Modi to deliver his two scheduled election rallies in Bengal on 16 May. The decision came after the entire fiasco at Amit Shah’s rally resulting in violence and vandalism of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s statue. Playing the blame-game over the broken statue, Didi called out the BJP goons while Modi blamed the TMC workers, stating that BJP will rebuild Vidyasagar statue. In yet another controversial remark, BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur called Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, a “patriot” and said those calling him a “terrorist” will be given a befitting reply when the election results are announced. Her remarks come in the wake of Kamal Haasan’s comment that Godse was India’s first terrorist. The BJP, however, scrambled to control the damage and condemned her remarks asking her to publicly apologize. Gearing up for the election results, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi took charge of hosting the opposition parties for a meeting which is set to be held on 23rd May, the day the results would be announced. And your last update for the day, the Haryana Police booked state minister Manish Grover and former Congress MLA B B Batra for allegedly entering a polling booth without permission and disorderly conduct. That was your quick 2019 My Vote Elections wrap for the day. You can subscribe to The Quint's podcasts on Spotify, Apple or Google podcasts. You can also log on to The Quint’s website and check out our podcast section! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices