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In the backdrop of a woman contractual staffer levelling molestation allegations against West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday said it would show the related CCTV footage to 100 people on Thursday, except “politician” Mamata Banerjee and “her police”.
Following the allegations, the Kolkata Police had requested the Raj Bhavan to share the CCTV footage concerned. The Governor, however, directed his staff not to cooperate with the police in this regard.
“Governor Bose has launched a programme ‘SACH KE SAAMNE’ in the background of the mischievous and fabricated allegations by the police that Raj Bhavan is not sparing the CCTV footage of an incident which is under the illegal and unconstitutional investigation of the police,” the Raj Bhavan said in a post on X handle.
It asked the people to send requests over email or phone to attend the programme at Raj Bhavan and the first 100 people would be allowed to see the footage inside the Governor’s House on Thursday morning.
“Governor has decided that the CCTV footage can be seen by any citizen of West Bengal — except politician Mamata Banerjee and her police for the stand they had taken, which is in public domain,” the post said.
A woman contractual employee of the Raj Bhavan lodged a written complaint with the Kolkata Police last Friday, alleging molestation by the Governor in the Governor’s House.
Bose had described the allegations as “absurd drama” while going after Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Kolkata Police have constituted a special team to probe the woman employee’s allegations of molestation by Bose.
Police have summoned a few of the Raj Bhavan officials and policemen posted there in connection with their investigation of the allegations.
However, under Article 361 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings can be instituted against a Governor during his term in office.
On Sunday, Bose wrote to the Raj Bhavan employees, asking them to ignore any communication from the police on the matter. He also reminded them that no criminal proceedings can be instituted against the Governor during his term of office, as per the Constitution.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address a public rally on Thursday morning in Bhongir in Telangana.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will campaign for his party candidates in Medak and Malgajgiri in the state.
All 17 seats of Telangana will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13.
Meanwhile, BJP national president J P Nadda will be in Uttar Pradesh, where he will address a public rally at Chitrakoot Dham in Chitrakoot district before addressing another rally at Bindiki in Fatehpur.
Also in UP, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will address election meetings in favour of the INDIA bloc candidates in Bahraich and Lakhimpur Kheri districts.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati will address a rally in Kannauj.
In Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidates Vikramaditya Singh and Anand Sharma will file their nominations Thursday. While minister Singh has been fielded from the Mandi seat, party veteran Anand Sharma has been fielded from the Kangra constituency.
In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister and YSRCP supremo Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had taken a break from campaigning Wednesday to review his party’s electoral possibilities with core leaders, will resume campaigning on Thursday with public meetings in Kurnool, Rajampet and Kalyanadurgam.
The leaders of the Opposition INDIA alliance will meet the full bench of the Election Commission (EC) on Friday to demand prompt release of absolute voter turnout figures after each phase in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting was scheduled for Thursday, but it was later changed to Friday.
The INDIA bloc leaders will also complain to the EC against the alleged “use of religious symbols” by the BJP in its campaign.
They will submit a memorandum and also discuss these issues with the poll panel.
The INDIA delegation is likely to include leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), all of whom have separately written to the poll panel as well, expressing concern over the “delay” in the release of voter turnout data in the first two phases.
Amid the Opposition camp’s allegations, the EC has asserted that booth-wise data of the “actual number of votes polled” is available with the candidates soon after the voting, which is a statutory requirement.
On Tuesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to leaders of various Opposition parties on the issue of alleged “discrepancies” in the voting data released by the EC. In his letter, Kharge urged the INDIA leaders to “collectively, unitedly and unequivocally” raise their voice on the issue.
Like the first two phases, the third phase of polling on Tuesday, covering 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories, also recorded a dip in voter turnout as compared to 2019.
The updated approximate voter turnout in the third phase stood at 65.68 per cent, the EC said on Wednesday night. In 2019, these constituencies had recorded a turnout of 67.33 per cent.
In the first phase, when 102 constituencies went to polls, the final turnout was 66.14 per cent, a drop of just under 4 percentage points as compared to 2019. In the second phase, in which 88 seats voted, the final turnout was 66.71 per cent, a drop of about 3 percentage points from 2019.
– With PTI inputs
