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TMC moves EC over ‘rigging’ fears, BJP alleges propaganda
Officials familiar with the matter said the EC has not prohibited State Police presence within 100m from the polling stations in Bengal. The instruction was meant for Civic Police/Green Police.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress approached the Election Commission of India separately on Friday, with just over a week left for the eight-phase polls to kick off.
The TMC parliamentary delegation, including Saugata Roy, Yashwant Sinha, Md Nadimul Haque, Pratima Mondal and Mahua Moitra, alleged that the poll watchdog had not permitted state police personnel within 100 metres of polling stations. “It is becoming increasingly clear that free, fair and transparent elections in West Bengal is becoming a distant reality. This is evident from the partisan and biased approach taken by the ECI in respect of the ongoing elections in the State,” a TMC memorandum said.
Hours later, a delegation of BJP leaders urged the ECI to take legal action against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for alleging that Union home minister Amit Shah was influencing the poll watchdog in her rallies earlier this week. “The above-mentioned instances are false, fraudulent, derogatory allegations and are made without any basis in law or in fact. A smear campaign is being run to tarnish the image & reputation of Shri Amit Shah ji and other senior leaders of BJP, with the intent to spread misinformation and thereby influence the voters in a wrongful manner,” a memorandum submitted by the BJP read.
Officials familiar with the matter said the EC has not prohibited State Police presence within 100m from the polling stations in Bengal. The instruction was meant for Civic Police/Green Police.
The TMC delegation said it raised three main issues. “We met Election Commission today and raised three points - the rule under which they are proposing to put only central forces within 100 metres of the polling booth, only five per cent of VVPAT checking as supposed to 100% and the incident involving the attack on chief minister on March 10,” said Moitra.
In her rallies on Friday, Banerjee said: “On the polling day, even if they (polling officers) tell you that the EVM has malfunctioned, don’t go back home. Secondly before the actual poll starts, they would press the buttons 30 times (mock poll) to show that everything is fine with the EVM. Then they would restart the EVM. But you insist that the EVM should be switched on and off at least twice before poll starts. Thirdly guard the EVMs (in the safe rooms) even after the polls...”
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya hit back at the CM, saying: “Either she (Mamata) is apprehending that her workers lack the morale and enthusiasm to see it to the end and that’s why she is repeatedly asking them to guard EVMs till the last or she is suffering from fear of defeat.“
