Mukul Roy leads a rally in front of the State Election Commission office in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)
The BJP has decided to move the Supreme Court on Thursday to file a petition, demanding deployment of central forces for the panchayat elections, state party president Dilip Ghosh said Wednesday.
“To ensure free and fair rural polls, central forces are required. We will move the Supreme Court on Thursday to file a petition in this regard. We will plead before the apex court to ask the state election commission to request for central forces. We will plead for the deployment of central forces in the entire poll process. from nomination to polling days,” Ghosh said.
Later, BJP workers led by Mukul Roy staged a protest outside the office of West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) and demanded for the same. A BJP delegation later met the state election commissioner too.
“They are trying to kill democracy. Trinamool, which has got disassociated from people, are creating violence so that the Opposition candidates cannot file their nominations. So we demand that the panchayat polls be conducted under security cover by central armed forces,” said Roy.
“Blood is being spilled in the state. There is no democracy here. All we are saying is that the election commission must ensure peaceful nomination process,” Roy added.
Reacting to the development, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said, “After Raj Bhavan, state election commission and High Court, now they want to go to the Supreme Court. I want to ask them when they will go the court of the common people. Nothing will happen by moving the courts. They must reach out to the people.”