The silence in the Opposition camp after the BJP’s stellar show in the Lok Sabha polls was broken on Sunday with Mamata Banerjee raising questions on the role of the Election Commission (EC) in conducting the polls.

“The Election Commission is the man of the match of this election. It openly supported the BJP… The central forces worked for them,” the Bengal chief minister, who had through the entire process cast aspersions on the poll panel, said.

The BJP’s clean sweep on Thursday had muted all Opposition parties, the silence giving an impression that most had accepted their rout at the hands of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah who spearheaded the BJP campaign.

“This election was marred by use of communal politics and abuse of money power. We went to the EC and the Supreme Court and lodged complaints against the malpractices but no one listened to us,” said Mamata, the first among the Opposition leaders to launch an attack on the poll panel after the results.

The chief minister hinted at malpractices in the conduct of the polls. “In many states like Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan or in Delhi, one party got all seats while the Opposition didn’t get even one seat. You call it an election? I don’t… I don’t believe in this mandate,” Mamata said.

According to her, there were doubts in the minds of people over the huge mandate for the BJP. “When Rajiv Gandhi got 400-plus seats in 1984, no one had suspicion in their minds. When (Atal Bihari) Vajpayeeji won the second time, even then there were no questions. But this time, there are doubts,” she said.

The Trinamul chief then turned to EVMs. “I am convinced there was a setting (in EVMs)… There may have been some programming done beforehand. There are technical issues involved. We are surveying the results.”

Though she did not cite any specific instance, Mamata said she had information that the BJP used central forces to distribute money among voters in Bengal.

“I have heard BJP leaders would go with CISF jawans in tow and ask, how many voters at your home? If there were five, they would straight away give Rs 25,000, meaning Rs 5,000 for each voter. They would even transfer money to the account of the voters. Is this an election?” she asked.

Mamata also said the BJP used the Election Commission to transfer key officers — like the commissioner of Calcutta police and the Bidhannagar Commissionerate — so that money could be brought into Bengal to rig the poll process.