BJP’s national executive member Mukul Roy has alleged that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal and the State administration were “biased.”
Following his meeting with the Special Police Observer of the Election Commission, Mr. Roy claimed that he told the observer, Vivek Dube, that a “fair poll is not possible with the CEO around.”
Mr. Dube, a retired IPS officer, replaced BSF’s former Director General K.K. Sharma as the observer after the latter was seen in a programme of the RSS.
“We told him that we will talk to him (Mr. Dube) only. The people of Bengal have a perception that the State’s CEO (Ariz Aftab) is not neutral,” said Mr. Roy, a former leader of the ruling TMC.
He further said that if Mr. Sharma “can be transferred for participating in an RSS programme, then why not the police officers who were present on the stage with Mamata Banerjee when she was staging a protest.” Mr. Dube later met Mr. Aftab and other senior officials of the State government, including the Chief Secretary.
Representatives of the Trinamool Congress, CPI-M and the Congress too met Mr. Dube. Following his meeting, TMC leader Ashoke Roy said that BJP was “running the Election Commission” and its leaders were “giving orders to the paramilitary forces”.
“One of their leaders was heard saying in a public rally that ‘don’t shoot in the legs but target the chest. The Basirhat candidate of the BJP recently made the comment in a public rally,” Mr. Roy said.
CPI-M leader Rabin Deb told the EC observer that there was an attempt “to create chaos in the State.”
“Anyone questioning the government is charged under Section 107 (of IPC, which is abetment to criminal activity). Besides there is a continuous attempt to disrupt communal harmony in the State,” Mr. Deb said.