The ruling party Trinamool Congress on Saturday refrained from attending the all-party meeting conducted by the State Election Commission on the ensuing panchayat polls in the State.
State Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, who was present at the meeting, said the party had informed the SEC that it would not attend the meeting.
According to Chatterjee, since the SEC has taken decisions “unilaterally” earlier, his party would not like to “endorse” the Commission’s decisions without any discussion.
The Opposition parties criticised TMC’s move and said it showed “disrespect” to the Constitutional body.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Manas Bhuniya said, “I have never seen a ruling party being absent at an all-party meeting in 40 years of my political career. The party has shown disrespect to a constitutional body like the SEC.”
Rabin Deb, CPI(M) state secretariat member, said Trinamool’s decision to skip the meeting was a “matter of concern”, alleging the party had done it “deliberately” to avoid the issue of rectification in the voters’ lists.