Kolkata: Trinamool’s Mamata faction on Tuesday held a heavily restricted protest rally at Rajabazar demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of poll rigging.The top party leadership — including former CM Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee — was conspicuous by their absence from the event. It was led by senior netas, including Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh, former MLA Humayun Kabir, MP Dola Sen and MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.The protest was originally scheduled as a march from Rajabazar to Park Circus at 2 pm. However, over 100 personnel from Kolkata Police and central forces set up barricades around the gathering point, preventing the procession from moving forward.Ghosh lashed out at BJP and accused the state administration of “throttling” a peaceful political movement as the protesters stood their ground at the blockade site chanting slogans like “vote chor, gaddi chhor”. Ghosh claimed the party’s youth and student wings had organised the demonstration and had notified the police via email well in advance.“I did not call this rally; rather, it was organised by students and the youth. Despite this, police stopped our rally… This is unconstitutional, illegal and this was an attempt to curb our democratic rights. We will approach Supreme Court,” Mamata said.Late on Monday, CM Suvendu Adhikari issued firm instructions to police to stop the procession. “I have instructed the CP not to allow even a single step forward from Rajabazar. I will tell the police to end it where it begins. If necessary, I have also asked for central forces to be deployed. No disorder will be allowed during Durga Puja,” he said.At Lalbazar, hours before the march was scheduled to begin, Kolkata Police commissioner Ajay Nanda said no official application for the march had been submitted to police, and therefore such an event cannot be held without permission. The police administration cannot act on the basis of social media posts or posters, he added.The police commissioner further noted that during Durga Puja, the city faces added pressure in terms of security and traffic management.
