Bengal Had No Fair, Independent Elections for 50 Years: Minister Dilip Ghosh
West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said fair and independent elections were not held in the state for the past 50 years, claiming results turned around once people were free to vote.
“It is true that for the past 50 years in Bengal, fair and independent elections were not held; people were not allowed to vote,” Ghosh said in Kolkata. “As soon as fair elections began here, the results turned around. The party that had been ruling here for 15 years did not even get 3 per cent of the votes, so it has become clear where the vote theft was happening.”
Official results from the April Assembly election show the Trinamool Congress won 80 seats with about 41 per cent of the vote, while the BJP won more than 200 seats with about 46 per cent. Mamata Banerjee lost her own seat in Kolkata.
Taking aim at the Congress leader, whose party has accused the Election Commission of “vote chori,” Ghosh said: “Rahul Gandhi will remain a student all his life. We will never get to see the practical application of his teachings.”
Zeroing In on ECI
09 Oct 2026 - Vol 05 | Issue 41
Constitutional legitimacy versus political opportunism
ON THE ATTACK CLAIM
Ghosh dismissed the Trinamool’s claim that former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was attacked outside her Kalighat residence.
“She herself makes such claims all the time. The public doesn’t know what she did. Nobody knows where and how she gets attacked,” he said. “She doesn’t even know how she lost the election. She should rest now and see what the public wants.”
On Tuesday, Trinamool MP Dola Sen filed a police complaint under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita over what the party described as a security breach and an attempted knife attack.
According to the complaint, an intoxicated woman, Tannishtha Saha, described as a civic volunteer and a drug addict, got past the gates and approached Banerjee violently with a knife, shouting abuse.
Reports say the incident happened at about 6 pm, as Banerjee was leaving for a Durga Puja programme, and that the woman is being questioned by Kolkata Police.
The allegations are the party’s, and have not been established.
With inputs from ANI