People's Democracy

  Former Kolkata Mayor Accused Of Blatant Malpractice

FORMER Kolkata mayor Subrata Mukherjee, erstwhile of the Trinamul Congress, now in the Pradesh Congress-led UDA alliance, has been roundly accused of malpractice that he indulged in to ensure an electoral success for a Pradesh Congress nominee in the recent KMC polls.

The accusation comes from his former political outfit, the Trinamul Congress.  Addressing a press briefing at the Kolkata Press Club, three former Trinamul Congress members of the mayor-in-council, Rajiv Deb, Javed Khan, and Hridayananda Gupta said that the former mayor had opened no less than 800 bank accounts on a single day in the run up to the Kolkata civic polls. 

Subrata Mukherjee, they alleged, had also fabricated thousands of forged ration cards.  The aim in both attempts was the same, it was said: Mukherjee wanted to pump up the number of bogus voters in ward 45 to ensure a win for the Congress and UDA candidate, Santosh Kumar Pathak who has already been identified as a history-sheeter.

The Trinamul Congress trio also lambasted the branch manager of the bank where the 800 accounts were opened in a single day. The highest number of bank accounts, they pointed out, that could conceivably be opened in a bank branch in one day was never more than 200.  When queried as to why the ‘revelations’ were delayed till the civic poll results were out for Kolkata, none of the trio was able to come up with anything beyond than a lot of embarrassed hemming-and-hawing. (BP)