Hours after early trends showed BJP crossing the majority mark in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference in Kolkata, saying, “We did not fight BJP, we fought the Election Commission, which worked for the saffron party.”Mamata revealed that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi called her to express solidarity after the Bengal poll results. “Sonia ji and Rahul called me up. I will now work to strengthen the INDIA bloc,” she said, signalling a pivot to national opposition unity after TMC’s setback.She alleged she was “kicked, pushed, and manhandled” inside a counting centre on Jattvibeday, as she accused central forces of acting “like goons” outside.Mamata announced that TMC will set up a 10-member fact-finding committee to visit areas hit by post-poll violence in Bengal. “We will send a team to every district where violence has been reported after the polls,” she added.Addressing the media as counting entered final rounds, the TMC supremo alleged a “game plan” between the EC and BJP to show saffron leads first. “In the first two or three rounds they displayed their results, ours were shown later. Counting was slowed down in nearly 100 locations where we were strong,” Mamata said. She reiterated her claim of EVM anomalies in Kalyani and accused central forces of “harassing” TMC workers.


