Overview
- Following Wednesday’s gherao of seven judicial officers in Malda during a voter-roll review, the Supreme Court ordered an independent probe by the CBI or NIA and sharply rebuked the state administration.
- The court directed the Election Commission to deploy central forces at sites where judicial officers are adjudicating objections in the Special Intensive Revision of the rolls.
- At Suvendu Adhikari’s Bhabanipur nomination on Thursday, Amit Shah urged voters to “vote without fear” and “throw TMC into the Bay of Bengal,” and BJP and TMC workers clashed outside the venue.
- Mamata Banerjee alleged mass voter-roll manipulation through bulk Form 6 filings to add outsiders and large-scale deletions, said her government has restored about 22 lakh names, and warned TMC candidates to bring lawyers to guard against nomination rejections.
- In Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned that Congress would pass a law to protect “infiltrators” and pitched development for tea workers, while Congress leaders attacked the BJP over alleged corruption, ahead of the April 9 vote in Assam with West Bengal polling on April 23 and 29.