Bhabanipur by-poll: BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal writes to HC over fear of violence

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Priyanka Tibrewal has written to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court ahead of the counting of votes for the by-election to Bhabanipur, the high profile seat in West Bengal.

Priyanka Tibrewal has sought measures to prevent possible violence after the results are declared, according to a report by HT sister publication. Live Hindustan reported that Priyanka Tibrewal has sought strict orders to Kolkata Police to take all precautionary measures to prevent any kind of violence after the Bhabanipur bypoll results are declared.

Live Hindustan reported that in her letter Tibrewal referred to the incidents of violence in West Bengal after the results of the last assembly elections were declared. “I am a candidate for this by-election. I humbly request you to issue a strict order to all government enforcement departments to take extreme precautionary measures, so that no innocent is killed, no sexual offence takes place, no one becomes homeless and no incident of arson takes place. Let us live in a peaceful environment,” she said, according to Live Hindustan.

Tibrewal, a vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing, in West Bengal, has played a pivotal role in the BJP’s legal battle in the Calcutta high court on post-poll violence. This ultimately led a five-judge bench to order for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Bhabanipur by-poll has become a prestige battle for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is presently not an MLA and has to win in order to retain her post. The rules stipulate that a candidate must be re-elected within six months to retain the chair.

Priyanka Tibrewal from the BJP and Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) are in the fray in the Bhabanipur by-election to the traditional seat of Mamata Banerjee. Mamata Banerjee, who contested from the Bhawanipur assembly seat in 2011 and 2016, moved to Nandigram for the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. She lost the election to the BJP’s Shubhendu Adhikari. After Mamata lost from Nandigram, the Bhabanipur assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for her to contest from the seat as a move to continue to hold her post.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.

Along with the Bhabanipur assembly constituency, votes will also be counted for two other seats in West Bengal.