PTI
Kolkata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the purported BJP rubber stamp on a communication of the Election Commission proved beyond doubt which party was controlling the poll watchdog from backseat.
A political row erupted on Monday after a March 2019 letter from the EC was found carrying the seal of the BJP’s Kerala unit.
“It is now clear from this BJP rubber stamp on EC notification who is running the commission from behind. The cat is out of the bag,” Banerjee told reporters at the Kolkata airport before boarding a flight to Bagdogra in north Bengal, where she is scheduled to commence election campaigns. She held up a newspaper report on the row to back her claims of the poll panel’s “lack of neutrality” in conducting the assembly elections.
“There’s no need to play your games from behind the curtains. Come out in the open and fight us face to face,” the CM said, without naming the commission.
Banerjee alleged that the EC’s move to transfer the Nandigram BDO — an officer she indirectly claimed was close to Suvendu Adhikari — to
Bhabanipur, the seat where the BJP leader would take on Banerjee in the upcoming polls, reeked of a political conspiracy.
“On Monday, the EC reshuffled 73 returning officers of the state. Earlier, they transferred out some 70 top IAS and IPS officers of Bengal, including the chief secretary, home secretary, the DGP and Kolkata CP,” she said.
