Requesting EC with folded hands to club remaining election phases: Mamata over Covid-19 spike

"I request the Election Commission to club the remaining phases of elections into one of at least two. Please don't work as per the wishes of the BJP and play with the lives of people," Mamata said at a rally while campaigning for her Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Countering Mamata, Union Minister and senior BJP leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, "Mamata Banerjee always skips Prime Minister's Covid-19 meetings. She has skipped the last Covid meeting due to the poll campaign. This reveals everything."

"It is the constitutional obligation to hold elections. As far as the elections are concerned, it is only the Election Commission, which is an independent body, would take a call," he added.

Mamata on Sunday announced she would not campaign in West Bengal's capital city Kolkata except on Apr 26 when she would hold a rally in north Kolkata.

The last three of eight phases West Bengal assembly will be held on Apr 22, 26 and 29 with a chunk of Kolkata seats going to voting on the last day.

Earlier in the day, Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi called off all political rallies till the end of the assembly elections over the same reason.

The Left parties had earlier announced they would not hold big meetings or rallies to avoid spreading of the deadly virus, which has kept the country on an edge.

However, the BJP and its chief campaigner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are going ahead with the poll campaigns as of now, facing flak on social media.

The West Bengal government has ordered the closure of all schools in the wake of the rise in infections.

In the highest single-day spike, West Bengal, one of the most populous states in the country, on Sunday reported over 8,000 Covid-19 cases.