KOLKATA, May 16: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday alleged the people of Diamond Harbour have not been able to exercise their voting rights for a decade ever since the local TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee appeared on the state’s political scene.
Assuring people that the scenario has now changed, he said the May 21 repolling in the Falta Assembly seat, which falls under the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, will re-establish voter rights.
Addressing a BJP workers’ rally in Falta, Adhikari announced a special development package for the Assembly constituency area, over and above the pre-poll promises made by the BJP in its manifesto.
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Canvassing for BJP candidate Debangshu Ponda in his first political meeting since becoming chief minister, Adhikari said, “The Falta repolls will re-establish voter rights where people have not been able to vote for 10 years in parliamentary, assembly and panchayat elections ever since the nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) arrived on its political scene.”
“That scenario has now changed. I urge the voters of Falta to elect the BJP candidate by a margin of over one lakh votes,” he said, while urging workers not to take law into their hands and appealing for a violence-free poll.
Adhikari said his party and the local administration will ensure the safe return of those who fled fearing post-poll backlash, but it would be “conditional”.
“In the 2021 post-poll violence, 57 BJP workers were killed, and 12,500 FIRs were filed. If any of these absconders feature as accused in those FIRs, we will not allow them to return home. We will drag them by their hair and throw them in jail,” he said.
The chief minister said he has received the files on the properties owned by Leaps and Bounds, a private company linked to Banerjee, and would soon launch a probe into them.
“I had sought the files from Kolkata Municipal Corporation and now have details of the 24 properties, including a palatial office in Amtala in South 24 Parganas district, owned by Leaps and Bounds. I now have a list of the nephew’s properties and will soon launch a probe into them,” Adhikari declared.
Stating that he has not forgotten the torture which the “TMC unleashed on BJP workers”, Adhikari said he has directed police to lodge FIRs for previous political crimes, and register complaints for misuse of funds from central schemes.
“I have told the police to register complaints of political crimes, even if they are five years old or more, arrest the criminals and put them behind bars. Not a single goon should be able to stay at home,” the CM said.
He added that officials have been asked to identify and jail those who swindled public money allocated by the Centre for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Cyclone Amphan relief, MGNREGA, construction of public toilets, old-age and widow schemes.
Adhikari said that strict police action would be initiated against those accused of torturing women. “People put me on (CM’s) chair not for the sake of it. They seek justice, and I am going to give it to them,” he said.
He added that police files of cases related to the destruction and defacement of the images of Hindu gods and goddesses will be reopened. “The police officer who placed the idol of Maa Kali inside a prison van has no place in Bengal,” the CM said.
He was drawing attention to the October 2025 controversy over a vandalised idol of Goddess Kali in the Kakdwip area of South 24 Parganas district, which the police placed inside a prison van, later clarifying that it was to ensure its safe custody and prevent further damage in the face of stone pelting by a crowd.
Referring to the TMC’s Falta candidate Jahangir Khan, the chief minister described him as “a designated most notorious criminal”, and said he would personally handle his case.
“On the post-poll crimes of 2019, the National Human Rights Commission had issued a list of 19 notorious criminals in the state. This nephew-backed Jahangir was one of them. Leave the so-called Pushpa, who isn’t visible anymore, to me. He is my responsibility now,” Adhikari said.
EC-appointed police observer, Ajay Pal Sharma, had issued a warning ahead of the second phase of Assembly polls in Bengal, triggering protests and a sharp political exchange in Falta. TMC candidate Jahangir Khan had retorted that “if he (Sharma) is ‘Singham’, I am ‘Pushpa’.”
Sharma, a 2011-batch IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh and nicknamed ‘Singham’ for his crackdown on criminals, visited Falta following complaints that Khan’s associates were allegedly threatening voters and went to the candidate’s home and party office. The Election Commission countermanded the election in Falta, which was held on April 29, following massive irregularities, including allegations of EVM tampering and voter intimidation. (PTI)
