Brute force and... Clean sweep!
And the results are clear as light: the Trinamul Congress has once again swept the polls. This picture by a photojournalist for The Telegraph sums it up all. The move by the former State Election Commissioner, S.R. Upadhaya to defer the counting of votes for the Biddhannagar polls was appreciable. It was an indirect admission to the fact that the elections were far from free and fair. Although such practices are not new in the state where rigging has been known for decades, it was perhaps the first time that brute force was employed by a party to secure a clean sweep in the corporation polls. It was shocking to read from the reports of some newspapers, how the "foot soldiers" were paid an amount to account for the fake votes. It brings great dismay to learn that this is unfortunately the reality in ground-zero. However, what is more appalling was the appointment of a temporary election commissioner, Alapan Bandyopadhyay. It is disturbing to learn th...