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‘Seek forces other than state police’: Bengal Guv’s letter to poll panel ahead of civic elections
Political analysts said his move was unprecedented but not unconstitutional. It is being seen as one to put the election commissioner under pressure to deploy central paramilitary forces and has irked the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
Triggering a fresh controversy, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday wrote to state election commissioner Saurabh Das, asking him to dispel the impression that the commission was merely an extension of the state government, avert undue governmental impact and seek additional forces other than the state police.
Political analysts said his move was unprecedented but not unconstitutional. It is being seen as one to put the election commissioner under pressure to deploy central paramilitary forces and has irked the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, as they believe that the governor’s intention is to discredit the state administration and the state police force.
“To avert such unwholesome scenario as also sabotage of the election process by violence, undue governmental impact or otherwise, as state election commissioner you need to take pre-emptive and timely call as regards seeking assistance of additional force/s other than the police by invoking your authority and in terms of constitutional provisions make a timely request to that effect,” Dhankhar wrote in his letter to Das on Thursday.
“The state election commission must take all steps to dispel fears and impressions that it is an extension of the government and must engage in effective dialogue with all stakeholders with an open mind, including for fixing the dates for polls,” Dhankhar wrote.
He argued that the steps he had been taking were based on the experiences of the 2013 and 2018 rural elections. The polls, conducted by the state election commission, witnessed widespread violence, unleashed mostly by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
TMC criticized the governor’s letter. Party spokesperson Snehasis Chakraborty said, “The governor is crossing his limits and trying to impose self-importance. Our government does not interfere with the operations of the election commission. Our party is committed to ensuring a free and fair election. The elections would be free from malpractices even without his pro-active measures.”
Incidentally, the Mamata Banerjee government had previously been against calling in police from other states and central paramilitary forces for civic and rural elections. The government had argued that the state police were efficient enough to handle the situation.
According to psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University, “The governor’s letter would please the opposition parties, exert pressure on the state government and the state election commission and would also bring to prominence the role of the governor in ensuring free and fair elections.”
Dhankhar, over the past few days, has been trying to mount pressure on the state election commissioner over the conduction of the civic polls in about 100 civic bodies likely to be held in April. His moves have irked TMC because the party is focussed on ensuring an election free from violence and other malpractices as part of its image makeover drive.
TMC analysed that making people angry with their highhandedness during the rural elections cost them havoc in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which was conducted by the Election Commission of India, and had been largely free and fair.
On March 3, during a meeting with the party’s district unit leaders, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and the party’s political advisor, Prashant Kishore, categorically asked district unit leaders to refrain from adopting any kind of malpractice during the civic elections to pre-empt adverse impact in the all-important 2021 Assembly elections.
BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh said that the governor had done the right thing to ensure the democratic rights of the people of Bengal.
“Everybody knows how keen TMC has been in conducting free and fair elections. Besides, no one trusts the state police. TMC’s commitment for conducting a malpractice –free election is a farce,” Ghosh said.
