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    Declare West Bengal as a ‘critical and vulnerable’ state, BJP urges ECI

    Synopsis

    A four member BJP delegation led by senior leader Mukul Roy and Om Pathak on Thursday met the full bench of ECI that has been camping in the state for two days.

    Mukul-RoyAgencies
    A four member BJP delegation led by senior leader Mukul Roy and Om Pathak on Thursday met the full bench of ECI that has been camping in the state for two days.
    KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janta Party has urged the Election Commission of India to declare West Bengal as a ‘critical and vulnerable’ state citing the incidents of violence during the Panchayat election process and also the number of uncontested seats in state during the rural polls. The ruling party at the centre requested the commission to appoint a senior IAS officer from outside state as the chief state observer of the ECI to oversee and supervise the functioning of the CEO, West Bengal and also a senior IPS officer as the chief police observer to oversee and review the police deployment by the Director General of Police and respective commissioners.

    A four member BJP delegation led by senior leader Mukul Roy and Om Pathak on Thursday met the full bench of ECI that has been camping in the state for two days.

    In its representation before the commission, the BJP has stated, “The bureaucracy and state employees, for a variety of reasons, have become subservient to the ruling party negating the very doctrine of impartiality and fairness towards all.” It further urged, “The entire state be declared critical and vulnerable and hence only Central Armed Police Force be deployed in all polling stations and villages or localities they serve.'

    BJP’s state general secretary Sayantan Basu, who was there in the delegation, said that the party submitted all relevant documents, photographs and CDs to the commission. The party also raised the issues of ‘political obstruction’ they were facing in organising any political programme in the state. “Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal is apparently leading no stone unturned to jinx every effort taken by us to organise any political event. Starting from not allowing permission for the rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah ji, the choppers carrying VVIP leaders and central ministers are not allowed to land at times. We mentioned all these issues before the commission,” said Basu .

    In its representation, it also raised concern over the neutrality of the CEO, West Bengal. “The office of the CEO of west Bengal came under a cloud of doubts about its functioning in a fair and transparent manner. For the reasons stated already, the commission may appoint senior IAS from outside the state as chief state observer to oversee and supervise the functioning of CEO. It must be ensured that the electoral laws, rules and instructions of the ECI are followed in letter and spirit and at all times. Such an observer be invested with such special powers of review so as to ensure that there is a level playing field for all parties.”

    The party also said that there should be a ‘chief police observer’. “A senior IPS officer from out of state be appointed as chief police observer to oversee and review the police deployment by the DG of West Bengal, police commissioners or all other police officers on election duty of any description.”

    Significantly, the Congress delegation also in its representation before the commission demanded mobilization of central forces at least a month prior to the election.


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