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ECI suspends Bengal police officer after poll campaign violence
ECI suspends Basanti police inspector-in-charge for negligence after clashes between TMC and BJP in South 24 Parganas
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday suspended the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of Basanti police station in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas, a day after clashes between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) left several people injured.
The poll panel directed the state chief secretary to suspend Paul and initiate departmental proceedings against him. “It has been observed that inspector Avijit Paul, IC of Basanti police station, failed to make adequate police arrangements in spite of having prior information regarding public programs of two political parties. Further, the CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) has been made available for the last few days. Despite this, he didn’t requisition CAPF for maintenance of law and order. This reflects serious negligence and dereliction of duty on his part,” the EC said in its letter to the state’s chief secretary.
Prabir Ghosh, an inspector of the state police’s enforcement branch, was posted in Paul’s place.
According to police, at least a dozen TMC and BJP workers and seven policemen were injured on Thursday, after supporters of both parties attacked each other with sticks and brickbats around 1 pm in the Basanti Bazar area, where BJP candidate Bikash Sardar was campaigning with his followers.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a Left Front partner, won the Basanti constituency in all previous elections from 1977 to 2011, when TMC came to power. TMC wrested the seat in 2016 and won again in 2021.
The ECI also announced the schedule for the two-phase polls for West Bengal’s 294 seats in April.
