The elections have always been a series of allegations against one another by all the parties. This West Bengal election was not safe from this series. There were a lot of accusations made on each other from the parties. But there was one allegation in which EC also got themselves in.
Mamata Banerjee alleged that her party workers were stopped and detained by police officers on the orders of poll body’s special observers. She termed EC as the event management company of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah and said they are partial.
TMC MP Sugata Roy also joined the fray and called EC baseless and a puppet of BJP.
Replying to these allegations, BJP spokesperson said that TMC is in a state of panic. West Bengal people are stepping out to vote as it was on hold because of the TMC suppression. The spokesperson also said that it is not understandable why Mamta and TMC are so upset with the Election Commission of India.
But EC has dismissed all the allegations by Mamata by calling them baseless and misleading. In the statement issued by the Chief Electoral Officer, he said, “No such instructions have been given by any observer or officer of the commission to act against workers.”
The EC further added that law authorization offices in the approach of a political decision generally screen “miscreants” and “history shelters” who can vitiate the elections.
The commission also said, “There are standing instructions for law enforcing agencies of all poll going states to ensure compilation of a list of miscreants based on criminal history, including involvement in election-related crime in the past. Action is taken and must be taken against such miscreants who have the potential of scaring genuine voters in any manner.”
The EC also responded to the claim by Banerjee of going to the court for the same allegations. It said, “No such cases have been reported to any of the officials, including CEO, the office, or the commission where any such case of preventive action against anyone has been brought into notice.” Adding further, ‘no instance of preventive action against any worker had been filed to date, and they are sure that no such instance has occurred.’