With one day left for the first phase of the Lok Sabha Polls, yet another “arbitrary, motivated and biased” move was taken by the Election Commission, the Opposition alleged. The Election Commission barred Cooch Behar Police Chief Abhishek Gupta on Tuesday from the election duties. To the action, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has raged its aggression stating the decision as politically motivated and that the EC is working at the behest of the ruling party.
In a letter to the EC, Trinamool Congress has accused the EC of being biased. Derek O’Brien, a senior party leader alleged that BJP’s Mukul Roy has threatened the police officer of being “robbed off his uniform” during the PM Modi’s rally in Bengal.
The Election Commission wrote to the Bengal Chief Secretary saying that “The Election Commission has decided to post Amit Kumar Singh, SS, IB, As SP Cooch Bihar in place of Abhishek Gupta.” The EC made clear that the officer should not be associated with any election-related duties.
In response to the EC, Derek O’ Brien said that the threat given by Mukul Roy hinted the action taken against the SP. And thus he said in his letter to the EC, “The action taken by you clearly indicates that such a decision has been taken as per the instruction of the BJP leader and compels us to question the bona fide of the decision taken by you.”
The Election Commission has justified its actions saying that it is well within the rights of the EC to transfer the officers from the state for any actions or misconduct. The EC said that it is unfortunate that the actions taken during the effect of Model Code of Conduct are being termed as arbitrary and motivated by the ruling party.
BJP Bengal Unit Chief, Dilip Ghosh, said that the decision taken by EC is very good as the Cooch Behar is a violence-prone district. And complaints from the other opposition parties have claimed that the SP was working under the influence of certain political party that has led to a number of life-threatening attacks on the candidates of our party.
Election Commission in the previous week transferred four police officials including a Police Commissioner from Karnataka and West Bengal. The opposition slammed the Election Commission for its actions that no such transfers took place in Tamil Nadu where the DSP is in charge of the case in Gutkha scam.
The opposition has said that Election Commission is compromising with the credibility and integrity of the poll body leading to mistrust in the public for free and fair elections.
ALSO, READ
Mamata Banerjee has “factually incorrect innuendos” in the letter against Cop transfers, says EC
Lok Sabha Polls: MP Kamal Nath, son Nakul Nath jointly own assets worth ₹784 crores
Lok Sabha Polls 2019: 6 out of 18 candidates in West Bengal polls have criminal cases