Irked by the decision of the Election Commission to ban her from campaigning for 24 hours, Trinamul chief and outgoing chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, today staged a sit-in protest near the Gandhi Statue at Mayo Road for 3.5 hours.

Banerjee had earlier tweeted that the ban is “undemocratic and unconstitutional”. Before she arrived at the spot, TMC workers began sloganeering. The on-duty Kolkata police urged the TMC supporters to refrain from sloganeering.

Mamata arrived at 11:30am, post which the Trinamul supremo literally took to the drawing board where she produced one after another paintings as she sat on her wheelchair.Many women supporters were present at the spot. Rita Adhikari, a resident from Behala said that she was there to support “Didi” sinche she believes the EC ban is “unjustified.” However, Banerjee’s ‘dharna’ had put the Army in a spot of bother as the TMC sought a no objection certificate from the latter since the protest venue was a defence land. A defence spokesperson highlighted that obtaining an NOC is a procedure which takes time and cannot be delivered in a jiffy.

While Banerjee chose to maintain silence by not talking to anyone, at a distance of 200 metres from her, artistes sat with the placards that bore the words ‘Black Day for Democracy’ and ‘Lajja’ (Shame). TMC secretary general, Partha Chatterjee, said “today is the black day for Indian democracy.”

Musical artist Soumitra Ray from a popular Bengali band ‘Bhoomi’ felt “democracy is standing on a stool in front of a hanging rope.” He termed the ban as “death of democracy” alleging that EC is showing bias.

“Didi can bring a storm in 24 hours, so curbing the campaign period before the 5th phase of election is nothing but a political conspiracy,” he said.Saikat Mitra, singer and music director, alleged that the gag order by the Election Commission is ‘sycophancy’ and ‘dangerous for democracy.’ Condemning the Sitalkuchi incident, he said, “The EC should look into who gave the order of firing,” he added.

Mamata finally withdrew her protest after 3.5 hrs as she headed for two political rallies at Barasat and Bidhannagar since the ban on her campaigning ends at 8pm today.TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandol, who was asked to repy by 11pm tonight after a show cause notice was served on him by the poll panel, on Monday. The EC warned that failure to reply will result in action by the poll panel.

Cong, BJP slams Mamata: In view of the Election Commission barring poll campaigns of Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee, both the state Congress chief, Adhir Chowdhury and BJP’s state president, Dilip Ghosh today sought to blame Banerjee who is also the caretaker chief minister of poll-bound Bengal.The poll panel’s ban brings insult to Mamata Banerjee because she holds the honorable post of chief minister, said Adhir Chowdhury, Congress MP from Behrampore. The Commission’s action signifies that she is not qualified enough to serve as chief minister, Chowdhury remarked.