After witnessing recent events in the ongoing West Bengal elections, the Election Commission (EC) barred 2 leaders – 1 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 1 from the current ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) – from campaigning on Sunday – 18^th April. The ban on campaigning for the 2 leaders from opposing parties will come into effect on Sunday 18^th April 2021 at 7pm IST and will last for 24 hours. The EC intervened by barring the 2 candidates from campaigning after each of them had passed remarks on the Sitalkuchi deaths and on Scheduled Castes.

The EC has issued a warning notice to West Bengal BJP General Secretary Sayantan Basu for his statements on the Sitalkuchi deaths. The statement of the EC quotes – “strongly advised him *Sayantan Basu) to desist from using such statement while making public utterances when the Model Code of Conduct is in force”.

The other leader who was barred is Trinamool Congress Arambargh candidate Sujata Mondal. Sujata Mondal had made some controversial statements regarding the Scheduled Castes. The Election Commission has issued a warning notice to Sujata Mondal for her actions that were aimed at “deintegrating the Scheduled Castes community in West Bengal”. “Now, therefore, the Commission hereby sternly warns Sujata Mondal and advises her to desist from using such statement while making public utterances when the Model Code of Conduct is in force.” – stated the Election Commission in their notice to TMC leader Sujata Mondal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress are locked in a fierce head-on battle to obtain ruling majority in the state of West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress party has been ruling in the state of West Bengal for almost a decade now led by Mamata Banerjee and a Narendra Modi led BJP is going all out to ensure that they prevent TMC to be the ruling party for the 3^rd time in a row and complete a hat-trick. The elections have drawn eminent BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other top brass of BJP to campaign intensively and gain a stronghold in the eastern major state of West Bengal. The parties have been carrying out massive public rallies throughout the months of March and April with crowds gathering tens of thousands in spite of the worsening situation of the pandemic in the country.

Five of the eight phases of election in West Bengal have been completed with 3 more phases of the voting to be held on 22^nd April, 26^th April and 29^th April 2021. The main forces of the election are –

1. Federal Front – Led by Mamata Banerjee and TMC in alliance with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
2. Sanyukta Morcha – Communist Party of India (Marxist) led alliance of Indian National Congress, CPI, All India Forward Block, India Secular Front and a couple of other parties.
3. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – Led by BJP and its leader Dilip Ghosh and allied with All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).

Shiv Sena had also initially planned to contest the elections in around 100 seats but ended up pulling out and supporting Mamata Banerjee led TMC from the outside.