ECI team in Bengal: BJP demands more Central attention, TMC petitions against BSF

NEW DELHI: From raising concerns over Burqa-clad voters to demanding Central forces be deployed in the State at least a month before the polls, the BJP in a seven-page note submitted to Election Commission officials on Thursday, has raised the pitch around "free and fair" elections in the State. The TMC, on the other hand, has asked the ECI to look into the behaviour of the Border Security Force that it alleged had started influencing the voters in some areas of the State.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora and Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar arrived in West Bengal to review election preparedness, on Wednesday evening. The TMC and the BJP who are fighting a fierce electoral battle in the State met them on Thursday in an all-party meeting at a hotel in Kolkata.

TMC leaders Firhad Hakim, Subrata Bakshi, Partha Chatterjee, CPI-M leader Rabin Deb, Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, Shishir Bajoria, Swapan Dasgupta ww among the leaders participated in the meeting.

Among its list of demands, the BJP has asked for central observers, a review of voter lists and for early deployment of Central forces in the State.

Apart from asking for senior State level observers that were appointed in 2019 too, the party has asked for observers in every district, and an ECI- appointed senior official in every district to monitor the working of the local police. It has asked for live webcasting of polling activity in critical polling stations and for the feed to be made available to all political parties, a facility that was withdrawn in 2019.

It has demanded that only CAPF be deployed outside in polling stations and within the radius of 200 metres, while the local police be given "only supportive roles, but nothing that could influence the voters."

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, about 700 companies of Central Forces were deployed.

Not just the local police, the BJP also wants the State government officials, particularly members of Government employees Union and teachers Union that have committed their support for Mamata Banerjee Government to be kept away from election duties. The commission must draft Central Government departments in Central PSU employees for election duties," it said. It has also demanded that retired officials and volunteers from civil organisations often employed by the State government not be used for polling work this time.

Pointing out the concern around "burqa-clad" voters have been addressed by courts in the country, the BJP has asked for the EC to "ensure every voter, respective of religious beliefs, is duly identified beyond any doubt before being allowed to vote." The party has also raised concerns over disproportionate increase in the number of voters in Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur Dakshin Dinajpur and south 24 Parganas in the last five years and asked for an audit of the voter lists.

BJP State executive member Shishir Bajoria told ET that the party has brought out all relevant issues in front of the ECI team. "They gave us a patient hearing. The situation in the State is very grave and the TMC will do everything it can as it does not believe in democracy."

The Trinamool delegation was led by party secretary general Partha Chatterjee who said that the Border Security Force (BSF) deployed at the State border was pressuring locals in villages to support a particular political party. “This is a serious allegation and we want the Election Commission to look into it,” Chatterjee said.

The TMC leaders also said that the BJP was trying to pressurise the EC and mislead voters by alleging that there were discrepancies in the voters’ list. Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim said, "The BJP says lakhs of Rohingyas have entered the voter list... but the list has been prepared by the EC... The BJP is accusing the election body. We also told the EC to check the BJP's efforts to spread communal hate in Bengal."

BSF later issued a statement rebutting the statement of the TMC leaders saying it is a professional Border Guarding Force "that has in the past, and also in the present, guarded our international borders with total sincerity and dedication." "The statements given by West Bengal ministers are without any basis and far from any truth. BSF stands firmly committed to its motto 'Duty Unto Death'," it said.