Kolkata: Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Friday night called on all political parties to maintain peace ahead of the May 4 counting, urging them to accept the people’s mandate and avoid a repeat of the post-poll violence that followed the 2021 elections.“Let there be peace in Bengal. The election is over and every political party should take part in the counting. Whatever rivalry existed during the polls should end now,” Adhikari said after emerging from the strongroom at Sakhawat Memorial School.Invoking the 2021 violence, in which BJP claims nearly 300 of its workers were killed, he said: “No neta is hurt in violence — I have CRPF security, Mamata ji has police protection and a bulletproof car. It is the common man and ordinary worker who suffers. We should now cooperate with the Election Commission, central forces and state police.”BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar raised separate concerns, alleging that “outsiders” had been brought into the city and were staying at hotels ahead of counting. “The Election Commission is in charge and should ensure the counting process remains peaceful,” he said.On Saturday, BJP Bengal in-charge Sunil Bansal and election in-charge Bhupendra Yadav held a workshop at Mecheda to prepare workers for counting day procedures.“We did not conduct such workshops last time. There is no room for error this time. Trinamool workers might try to disturb the process on the day of counting. People’s mandate should be respected and their aspirations should be fulfilled,” said BJP former national vice-president and Kharagpur Sadar candidate Dilip Ghosh.Adhikari, on the other hand, offered a round-by-round prediction for the Bhowanipore constituency, saying he expected to lead in the first two rounds before Banerjee pulled ahead in the next three, with BJP regaining the lead from the sixth and seventh round — remarks that drew criticism from the opposition.BJP asks women workers to stage strongroom sit-ins Bengal BJP has asked women workers to stage sit-in demonstrations outside strongrooms on Sunday. Candidates will begin the day with temple visits before women workers take up positions in front of strongrooms across constituencies.
