After the second phase of polling in West Bengal, central units of the CPI(M) and the BJP have made fervent appeals to the Election Commission to act against what they labelled as “politics of terror and intimidation” used by the Trinamool Congress to ensure bogus voting in the state.
A BJP delegation led by Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar and BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav marched to the EC headquarters here to accuse the TMC of conducting bogus voting and terrorising genuine voters. The BJP asked the EC to take some concrete steps such as asking central security forces to conduct flag marches and patrol the poll-bound areas besides manning the poll booths.
The BJP also asked the EC to appoint only the employees of the central government or central PSUs as Presiding and Polling Officers in the polling booths besides taking additional measures to ensure that the number of people entering the polling station tallies with the headcounts maintained by independent agencies such as the central police officers so that the biased poll officers can be restrained.
“Despite the detailed rules and procedures prescribed by the Commission, the widespread incidents of bogus voting after the formal closure of voting continue unabated. Reports in the local print and electronic media bear ample testimony to the corrupt and criminal practices deployed by the Government of West Bengal at the behest of the TMC,” said the BJP in its memorandum to the EC.
The politburo of the CPIM) expressed “shock” at the “manner in which the process of free and fair electins has been disrupted and undermined by miscreants backed by the ruling TMC on the second day of polling”.
In a statement here, the CPI(M) said the events of the second day of polling in West Bengal included attacks on the opposition, intimidation of voters through violence and denial of democratic rights to the candidates by stopping their polling agents from being present in polling booths. “What happened is a reflection of the failure to implement the assurances the EC itself had given to the West Bengal electorate,” said the CPI(M).
“The politburo urges the EC to ensure that the mandate bestowed on it by the Constitution is judiciously exercised to ensure free and fair polling in the remaining five phases,” the party said.