Kolkata: As the days for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections is nearing both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are not leaving any stones unturned to malign each other in front of the Election Commission of India.
A delegation of the ruling Trinamool Congress comprising TMC MP Saugata Roy and TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien visited ECI and requested to keep Kolkata police within 100 meters of the polling booth.
“There can be language issues following which there can be confusion during the poll days. So we have requested the ECI to keep state police along with central forces to ensure free and fair polling,” claimed TMC MP Saugata Bose.
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya claimed that the TMC delegation had visited the ECI as part of a political gimmick ahead of the polls.
“Those who resort to violence during the poll days are asking for free and fair polls. This is just a political ploy,” stated Bhattacharya.
It is pertinent to mention that the Trinamool Congress as an opposition party didn’t trust the state police and called it the former Left Front’s puppet. Incidentally, the BJP, the Left Front and Congress now claim that the state police is run by the TMC.
Notably, Union Minister of State Debasree Choudhuri also visited the ECI asking it to send notice to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for maligning Union Home Minister Amit Shah during her poll campaigns.
“Mamata Banerjee has been saying that the ECI is being run by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This is a baseless claim. We have asked ECI to send a notice to her seeking clarification. Moreover, our second demand is security as BJP cadres across the state especially in Nandigram, are being attacked by the TMC workers. We also requested ECI to deploy central forces inside the polling booth,” mentioned the BJP leader.
