The candidates were also told not to use their “influence” to win as it was essential that the elections are held “free and fair”.
TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to campaign for the party’s candidates in the December 19 Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, state minister Partha Chatterjee said here on Saturday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will campaign for our candidates on December 16 – the last leg of campaigning. She will be present in the rally at Behala and Jadavpur-Tollygunj,” he said.
Earlier in the day, TMC general secretary and the CM’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee met with the party’s 144 candidates and told them to focus on door-to-door campaigning, instead of holding rallies of streetcorner meetings.
The candidates were also told not to use their “influence” to win as it was essential that the elections are held “free and fair
If anyone tries to stir up create violence, then the party will take stern action against them. They could be expelled from the party,” Abhishek told them Sitting KMC councillors who did not get tickets to contest were also present in the meeting, besides TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, state unit president Subrata Bakshi and former Kolkata mayor and Transport Minister Firhad Hakim.
Addressing the candidates, Hakim said that “strict action” would be taken if the voting process was obstructed. “Those who did not get tickets are also the soldiers of the party,” he said.
A senior TMC leader said that the leadership was focussing on free and fair elections as she had been trying to make an impact on national politics. “Mamata Banerjee is now trying to increase the party’s footprint nationally. In this situation, if municipal elections are not seen to be free and fair, then that will send a wrong message across the country. So, the leadership nows wants to hold peaceful voting,” the senior leader said on the condition of anonymity.