Gyanesh Kumar Faces Go Back Slogans, Shown Black Flags in Kolkata
Similar demonstrations were seen near the airport on Sunday night over the SIR exercise, after Kumar arrived in the city. As his convoy was leaving the airport, TMC workers raised "go back" slogans, targeting him
Kolkata: Many political parties have demanded the Election Commission (EC) full bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, to conduct the forthcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal within two phases.
They placed their demand on Monday while meeting the CEC who reviewed the Assembly polls preparations here amid chief minister Mamata Banerjee's dharna against the large-scale deletion and logical discrepancy-linked ‘adjudication’ of names special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list.
Altogether representatives from seven political parties attended the meeting. Mr Kumar also supervised the poll arrangements with the administration officials of the state government and pulled them up for gaps.
The EC later stated that all parties assured them of a violence free poll. “Many political parties appreciated the massive SIR exercise being carried out and also reposed their complete faith and trust in ECI. Political parties urged the Commission to take stringent measures to curb the aggression of anti-social elements and ensure that there is no intimidation of voters during the elections,” it said.
According to the EC, “the parties also called for protection to each voter and deployment of central forces in large numbers to curb violence during elections, raised their concerns about the possibility of use of crude bombs, illegal firearms, money and muscle power by certain parties and sought the polls be held in two phases.”
The CEC told the parties that no stone would be unturned to ensure an impartial, transparent and a free and fair poll in West Bengal. He also reiterated that SIR has been conducted in the most transparent manner without any bias before adding that Forms 6/7/8 can still be filed for any inclusions/ deletions/ changes.
Before the day-long session, Mr Kumar visited Kalighat Temple to offer puja but faced a second round of protest by the voters outside over deletion and ‘adjudication' of names. The demonstrators shouted 'Go Back' slogans at him. The CEC told the media, “My greetings to all the brothers and sisters of West Bengal. May Goddess Kali bless everyone. Jai Bharat, Jai Hind." Special roll observer Subrata Gupta, who accompanied him, said, "We prayed for a peaceful election."
