BJP won by spreading communal poison in Bengal, EC worked in their favour: Mamata

Accusing the BJP of doing well in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal by spreading "communal poison", Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday charged the Election Commission with working in favour of the saffron party.

"I must say nothing is unfair in war and love. What BJP has done it has done to promote its interest. So I appreciate that they have won by spreading the poison of communalism.

"Winners are always winners. They have succeeded in their politics, we have not succeeded in our politics...ultimately, people believe in the results in a democracy," Banerjee said after an emergency meeting of her party here.

The meeting was held two days after the BJP came up with a stunning performance in West Bengal, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. This was the BJP's best performance in the state since its formation. It had won only two seats five years back.

The Trinamool Congress, which had triumphed in 34 seats five years back, won just 22 this time round. The Congress won the remaining two seats.

Coming down heavily on the Election Commission, she said "It has totally worked in their (BJP's) favour. None of our complaints got justice."

She alleged that the Election Commission had taken over the administration in January, nearly five months back.

"For five months, I was not allowed to work. I was told all officers were now under the EC. I don't know whether this scenario was there anywhere else in India, but it really happened in Bengal. An emergency-like situation was created here. Bengal was targeted," she said.

However, Banerjee still sought credit saying though her party's seat count went down, its percentage of votes went up in this election.

"This election, it's only because of me, and people's blessings, that despite everything, our vote has gone up by four per cent. Seats have gone down, but vote percentage is up," she said. IANS