Unfazed by the Election Commission’s order to end electoral campaign for the last phase of polls in West Bengal 20 hours before the original scheduled time, Mamata Banerjee advanced her rallies that were planned for Friday to Thursday. The EC took an unprecedented step of invoking Article 324 to curtail the campaign period in West Bengal in view of the violence. But it came under attack from the Opposition as the time duration meant advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was scheduled to address two rallies on Thursday. Banerjee addressed two rallies and held two road-shows in the punishing sultry heat of West Bengal in Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Behala and Kolkata. Without mincing any words, Banerjee called the PM “shameless” and BJP president Amit Shah as a “goonda”.

Source: dna May 16, 2019 23:37 UTC