The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India alleging that the Border Security Force (SF) was threatening people living along the Bangladesh border and asking them to vote for a particular political party.
Meanwhile, the BJP has urged the poll panel to order a special audit of the electoral roll.
“BSF personnel are going to bordering villages and threatening villagers to vote for a particular political party. Villagers are being told that the state administration won’t be able to help them and that they would be left at the mercy of the BSF. We have taken up the matter with the ECI,” said Partha Chatterjee, TMC general secretary and state education minister, after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner.
The BSF has refuted the allegations, calling them baseless and far from truth
“The BSF is a professional border guarding force. We have actively checked on illegal infiltration and smuggling and criminals involved in such activities have been brought to book. The statements made by Chatterjee, are without any basis and far from truth,” said a statement issued by the BSF.
Representatives of both the TMC and the BJP met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and the two election commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar on Thursday. The ECI team is on a two-day visit to West Bengal to take stock of the election preparedness and law and order situation in the poll-bound state.
{{/usCountry}}Representatives of both the TMC and the BJP met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and the two election commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar on Thursday. The ECI team is on a two-day visit to West Bengal to take stock of the election preparedness and law and order situation in the poll-bound state.
{{/usCountry}}“Bordering areas are very sensitive. We have urged the ECI to cross-check the voter’s list in some areas where there has been an alarming increase in the number of electors,” said Dilip Ghosh, BJP president in West Bengal.
The BJP in its letter to the ECI alleged that at least five bordering districts – Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, and South 24 Parganas – have registered high population growth in the last four years. Three of these – Malda Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur have a Muslim majority, according to the 2011 census.
The BJP team also demanded that central forces be deployed at least 15 days before the polls. Buoyed by its impressive gains in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where the party won 18 of the 42 seats, the BJP has set a target of winning more than 200 seats in the 294-member legislative assembly.
Ghosh also claimed that between 4 to 5 lakh Rohingyas who illegally entered the country through the Indo-Bangla border, have been included in the voters' list. But the BJP’s letter to the ECI made no mention of this point.