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'EC making independent assessment in Lalgarh'
The Election Commission is making an independent assessment of the situation at restive Lalgarh in West Midnapore district for holding the Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Home Secretary said on Saturday.
The Election Commission is making an independent assessment of the situation at restive Lalgarh in West Midnapore district for holding the Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Home Secretary said on Saturday.
"The EC has not committed to send a team to Lalgarh," Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said in Kolkata on Saturday. However, he added that the poll body is making an independent assessment of the situation there.
Tribals under the banner of 'Police Santras Birodhi Janaganer Committee' are not reportedly allowing police from entering Lalgarh in protest against their "atrocities" in the name of raids since early November and have declared that they would boycott the Parliamentary elections if police entered the area.
"The state government has been at work for a month to ensure that polling can be held at Lalgarh. We are passing through difficult days and will abide by the EC directives on Lalgarh," Sen told reporters in Kolkata.
Of the 25 villages in and around Lalgarh, the police have not yet been able to enter 15 villages because of resistance by the Committee, he said.
"The police will not go in for confrontation with the people," Sen asserted.
The Home Secretary criticised a section of media for speculating that the state government was passing the buck to the EC on holding elections, saying "We are doing our duty."
