“Under the control of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, police do not believe in providing a level-playing field for every candidate. It’s become a ruling party cadre in the state,” he said.

Adhikari said that the South 24 Parganas district police did not grant permission to BJP candidate from Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat, Anirban Ganguly, to conduct a meeting at Bhangar assembly segment. “We had a scheduled meeting at Bhangar… However, this morning, our candidate was informed that, as a TMC meeting was scheduled 100 metres away, BJP meeting cannot be allowed. Ironically, no such TMC meeting is taking place…,” he alleged.

According to the police, due to the volatile situation in the area, the BJP was not given permission to hold a meeting in Bhangar.

While BJP appealed to the EC seeking its intervention, the poll panel refused to intervene, leaving the matter to the police and local administration.  “We are law-abiding citizens. We won’t proceed with today’s meeting. But I am telling the electorate that the multi-party democratic system is now under a threat in West Bengal,” Adhikari said.