As the second phase of voting in West Bengal Assembly polls is set to take place on April 1, a photo of a desktop screen — apparently showing poll survey results by the political consultancy group, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) — started circulating. I-PAC is managing the election strategy of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. The photo showed predictions of BJP taking a lead in the second phase of voting and Mamata Banerjee losing Nandigram, the constituency she is contesting from. However, I-PAC has said that the image is fake, and hit back at the BJP.
“Facing imminent defeat, @BJP4Bengal has now gone down to the level of using FAKE surveys in the name of I-PAC to keep the morale of their workers up!!” IPAC said in a tweet. The political advocacy group added in the tweet that no one at IPAC uses desktops, as the image shows. Incidentally, in December 2020, I-PAC chief Prashant Kishor had predicted that BJP in West Bengal would struggle to cross double digits in the Assembly election. He had even vowed to quit Twitter if BJP did better than predicted.
West Bengal is set to vote in eight phases. The first phase was held on March 27. Nandigram is set to vote in the second phase of the elections, and will see West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee contesting against her protege-turned-rival, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
Facing imminent defeat, @BJP4Bengal has now gone down to the level of using FAKE surveys in the name of I-PAC to keep the morale of their workers up!!
— I-PAC (@IndianPAC) March 31, 2021
P.S: In I-PAC, no one uses desktops so at-least be smart in your effort to create fake survey / reports! pic.twitter.com/lFaOo0DshU
Earlier on Wednesday, alleging that goons from other states have come to Nandigram to foment trouble and intimidate the voters, Mamata had urged the Election Commission to take action Speaking to reporters before starting the campaign trail for the later phases, Banerjee alleged that locals are being hounded out of various villages in the Assembly constituency in the Purba Medinipur district.
"Goons from other states have entered Nandigram to intimidate the voters. The villagers of Balarampur and many other areas are being hounded out. They are intimidating voters," she alleged. "We are lodging a complaint with the EC. The Election Commission must take note of it and take action," she added.
BJP leader Jaiprakash Majumdar said that although it is for the EC to look into the allegations, it seems that sensing defeat, the Chief Minister is making such claims in advance.
(With PTI inputs)