The Trinamool Congress on Monday lashed out at the BJP over the removal of West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar by the Election Commission, claiming it was a glaring example of the saffron party’s “control” over the EC.
“BJP is trying their best to grab the organisations like ECI and so on. They are trying their best to grab and monitor their jobs only to fulfil their political purpose. In this case also, what we saw today, is the reflection of BJP,” Trinamool Congress general secretary Kunal Ghosh said while addressing a media conference here.
“It doesn’t matter if BJP changes even 100 such officers, because the people of Bengal are with Mamata Banerjee,” Ghosh added.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission ordered the removal of Home Secretaries of six states and West Bengal’s DGP, seeking to ensure a “level playing field” in the Lok Sabha elections.
Notably, The Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 5 instructed district magistrates and superintendents of police in Bengal to ensure “free and fair” Lok Sabha polls to create a “level-playing field” for all political parties after Opposition parties in the state had alleged that a part of the bureaucracy was “not aligned” to free elections.
“Strict directives have been given to the DMs and SPs to ensure a level-playing field for all political parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had told a media conference in Kolkata.
A 1989-batch IPS officer, Rajeev Kumar, has been at the centre of controversies. Ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls in the state, Opposition leaders had then alleged that Kumar, the Kolkata police commissioner at that time, was tapping their phones and acting on the behest of the ruling Trinamool Congress dispensation.
The BJP welcomed the removal Kumar and said he was known as “someone close” to the ruling dispensation.
“We all know the role Kumar had played in several investigations concerning the TMC government in the state. As long as he is the DGP, there can never be a level playing field,” said BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya.