Left decimated in West Bengal, alleges 'massive' rigging by TMC

New Delhi: Left parties were decimated in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal which they had once ruled continuously for 34 years, with CPI (M) alleging "massive rigging" by Trinamool Congress.

"We are not prepared to accept this result as it does not reflect the actual position, the strength and support of the Left parties. We cannot accept it as our percentage of votes has fallen from 41 per cent in the 2009 elections to 28-30 per cent," said CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here.

While the Left in Kerala made "major gains" and increased margins in Tripura, he said "we place West Bengal in an exceptional situation where the Election Commission has failed to intervene to rectify the situation from the third to the fifth round of elections when 32 of the 42 seats went to polls. And this was despite complaints by all parties opposing the TMC, including BJP and Congress."

"The widespread rigging, violence and intimidation targeting the Left Front in these elections has led to a distorted result which does not reflect the popular support for the CPI(M) and the front," Karat said.

Overall, he said the people had voted for a change and against the Congress-led UPA government whose policies led to price rise, agrarian distress and corruption. "This negative vote was taken advantage of by the BJP."

"We too worked for the rejection of the Congress but I can't say we are happy with the outcome," Karat said.

In a similar vein, CPI National Secretary D Raja said BJP had taken full advantage of the anger of the people against Congress and its policies on one hand and the "complete absence" of a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative in the Lok Sabha polls.

"It is a big setback for the Left, which has to do a serious introspection, reinvent itself and rework its strategy for the coming days," Raja said.

Raja said despite "large-scale rigging, booth capturing and violence" in West Bengal, Left had garnered around 30 per cent votes but was leading only in one seat, whereas Congress and BJP which got around 10 per cent vote share each were winning in four and two seats respectively.

"This is the weakness of our election system and the Left parties have been raising the issue of electoral reforms for a long time," he said.

Maintaining that BJP had gained from the anti-Congress wave, Karat said "there was an unprecedented use of money power in these elections."

The CPI (M) Politburo and the CPI Central Secretariat would meet on Sunday to review the election results, the post -poll scenario and their future strategy.

Asked whether the CPI (M) leadership would accept responsibility for the poll outcome in Bengal, Karat said "that question does not arise as we are placing West Bengal in an exceptional situation. The widespread rigging was widely reported in the media but no action was taken to prevent that."

He said the CPI (M) Politburo extended greetings to "thousands of cadres and supporters of CPI (M) and Left Front in West Bengal who have worked courageously in the face of ceaseless attacks in these elections. The party will identify the weaknesses and take steps to overcome them."

Karat said the CPI (M) would contninue to work "to defend the interests of the working people and safeguard the secular democratic framework of the country."

In Kerala, the LDF candidates, including two independents put up by the CPI(M), were ahead of their Congress rivals in eight of the total 20 constituencies.

In Tripura, CPI (M) candidates were leading comfortably in both the seats over their Congress rivals by over 4.5 lakh votes each.