Kolkata: Four phases of elections have been held in West Bengal. Campaigning is now underway for voting for 45 seats for the fifth phase. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has banned Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours. The ban on Mamata comes into effect from 8 pm on Monday. The election commission's action is due to Mamata Banerjee's two statements.

The Election Commission has reportedly issued a notice to Mamata on her statement seeking public votes on the communal issue during her public meeting in Hooghly. Mamata Banerjee is staging a strike near the Gandhi statue in Kolkata today over the election commission's decision. Several TMC leaders have also objected to the Election Commission's action. TMC MP Derek O'Brien responded to the Election Commission's action, calling it a dark day of democracy.

Brien tweeted a video on his Twitter account describing it as a dark day of democracy and saying that when you can't beat us, you banned us. Former Union minister and TMC leader Yashwant Sinha also responded to the issue. In his tweet, Sinha wrote, "We always doubted the fairness of the Election Commission. It is now clear that the Election Commission is working at the behest of Modi/Shah and under their direct order.''

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