Bagdogra (West Bengal) [India], March 19 (ANI): Hitting back at TMC leaders for questioning the integrity of the Election Commission, West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday stated that the Election Commission cannot act as per the need of Mamata Banerjee.
Lashing out at Derek O'Brien for demanding a 'Supreme Court-monitored elections, Sukanta Majumdar sarcastically said, "Derek O'Brien and his party leaders want to make a new Constitution. Let us do one thing, let Mamata Banerjee write a new constitution," he sarcastically said.
"ECI has been given the responsibility to conduct elections. It will not work like the State Election Commission and do whatever Mamata Banerjee will say," the BJP leader said.
TMC leader Derek O'Brien had demanded Supreme Court-monitored Lok Sabha polls alleging that BJP's tricks are destroying the Election Commission of India (ECI).
"BJP's filthy tricks destroying institutions like ECI. Are BJP so nervous to face people that they are turning ECI into a party office to target Oppn? ECI or HMV? Transferring officers of elected state govts! For free & fair elections. We want a Supreme Court-monitored election," O'Brien stated in a post on X.
Earlier TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had also criticized the Union Government after the ECI took the decision to replace DGP Rajeev Kumar.
"We have seen that the BJP is trying its best to grab different organizations including ECI. They have taken over the control of central agencies and different organizations. In this case also, after the announcement of Lok Sabha elections, what we saw today is the reflection of BJP. It is trying its best to grab and monitor the functioning of these kinds of organizations, including ECI," Kunal Ghosh had said.
Trinamool Congress' assertions followed the replacement of West Bengal's DGP, Rajeev Kumar, with IPS Officer Vivek Sahay by the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP, however, alleged that the DGP used to work like a cadre of the TMC, and hence has been removed, following the Sandeshkhali violence in the state.
"Rajeev Kumar was supposed to be removed, he is the same Rajeev Kumar against whom CBI registered FIR and had gone to arrest him, he was a CP that time and he had disappeared. Mamata Banerjee had protested against his arrest so such a person is more like a cadre of the party (TMC) than a DGP. In 2014, also he was removed from the position of CP. There are so many small Rajeev Kumar in West Bengal, who have been kept on payroll by Mamata Banerjee," said BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar
The ECI stated that the decision to replace the DGP of Bengal and Home Secretaries of six other states aimed to ensure transparency, fairness, and freedom in the electoral process. (ANI)
