'Islamisation of Bengal a reality': Malviya says 99% Muslim presiding officers in Raiganj bypoll led to BJP loss

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya on Tuesday flagged a post by Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wherein the latter claimed that many were allowed to cast their votes in the recently concluded Raiganj assembly bypolls based on 'handwritten voter slips' and not legitimate voter ID cards.

Malviya, however, chose to highlight the issue that "99 per cent of booth presiding officers" in the Raiganj bypolls were Muslims, and claimed that is the reason why Trinamool won the seat.

He said in a post on X, "Mamata Banerjee model of ‘winning’ elections. It can’t be a coincidence that 99% of the booth presiding officers in Raiganj by-poll, a seat which is BJP bastion, were Muslims. Result: TMC won! Islamisation of West Bengal is a reality."

Suvendu, on the other hand, alleged that the "handwritten voter slips" were behind his party's heavy loss in the bypolls.

He posted the results of the 2021 Assembly elections, the 2024 LS election vote count in the Raiganj Assembly segment, and the recently concluded bypolls to flag the stark difference in votes polled for the two parties in these elections.

According to Adhikari's tweet, the BJP got 79775 votes while the TMC bagged 59027 votes in the 2021 Assembly elections in Raiganj.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the Raiganj Assembly segment, Adhikari claims that the BJP got 93402 while the TMC got 46663 votes.

Then he went on to highlight that in the bypoll elections, the picture took a drastic turn as the TMC received 86479 votes while the saffron party managed only 36402 votes.

Adhikari has also launched a portal to enable genuine voters who allegedly could not exercise their franchise during the Lok Sabha elections and the recent bypolls to register their complaints.

Adhikari claimed that thousands of electors could not cast their votes during assembly by-elections in four segments on July 10.

"As promised, I have launched a portal where genuine voters can register their names, who were not allowed to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the recently concluded assembly bypolls.

"Whoever was not allowed to vote, can register themselves, and full secrecy will be ensured," the Leader of Opposition in the assembly said in a post on X on Monday.

With PTI inputs