Bengal elections: Central forces are partial towards BJP, Trinamool Congress tells poll panel
Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said he had never seen such ‘blatant interference’ by the Centre in the elections.
A delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders, led by Yashwant Sinha, on Friday met the Election Commission to register its complaint about central forces being “partial” towards the Bharatiya Janata Party during the Assembly elections, PTI reported.
“We have told the poll panel, the role of central forces has been partial in many booths in the first two phases [of the election],” Sinha said after the meeting. “There have been incidents of violence and attacks on our party supporters by BJP.”
Sinha alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was trying to influence the election outcome by stopping voters opposed to the BJP from exercising their rights. “This has to stop,” Sinha said, according to PTI.
Sinha’s colleague Subrata Mukherjee said he had never seen such “blatant interference” in the election process by the Centre.
The Trinamool Congress leaders urged the Election Commission to ensure that personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces, against whom complaints were filed in the first two phases of the Assembly elections, are not deployed in the upcoming phases, according to ANI.
WB: TMC delegation met EC in Kolkata today
— ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2021
We've requested EC to address EVM issue,& violence by BJP workers. It's EC's responsibility to ensure fair polls. Despite their tactics, Mamata Banerjee will win in Nandigram, & TMC will get win in previous 2 phases: Yashwant Sinha, TMC pic.twitter.com/XpE9W5iSWk
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The party asked the poll panel to direct central forces “to maintain the sanctity of elections and act in a nonpartisan manner in accordance with law”, according to ANI.
The Trinamool Congress also demanded that the Election Commission address concerns related to voting machines and the alleged violence by BJP workers.
Sinha claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would win elections from Nandigram, despite the BJP’s tactics. Nandigram, where Banerjee is pitted against her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, now a BJP leader, went to polls in the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections on Thursday. During the voting, a clash broke out between TMC and BJP supporters at one of the booths in the district.
The Election Commission sought a report about the incident from the local administration. However, after voting concluded, the poll panel said that General Observer Hemen Das, who was sent to the Boyal booth on the basis of media coverage, said in his report that polling was not disrupted at any moment.
The poll body also said that a separate complaint filed on the matter by Banerjee has been forwarded to the special general observer and special police observer. They have been asked to send a report on the incident by 6 pm on Friday.