Kolkata, April 15 -- The TMC has written to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, alleging "biased conduct" by the Election Commission and seeking action against senior poll panel officials over "illegal" directive targeting its leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee. In a complaint dated April 14, the party claimed that "instructions have been given to police and other observers and CAPF officials to target and search vehicles of TMC leaders and their family members". The ruling party also attached purported screenshots of WhatsApp messages, allegedly communicated to police and expenditure observers, and claimed, "Instructions are dispersed to also target TMC's campaign-related activities, outreach programmes." "Such conduct clearly indicates a motivated campaign against TMC. EC and its officials have been thoroughly compromised," the party alleged.
A copy of the complaint to the chief election commissioner was made available to the media on Wednesday. The TMC had on Tuesday alleged that its leaders, specifically Abhishek Banerjee, have been "singled out for intrusive checks" of their vehicles by security personnel deputed for the West Bengal assembly elections, based on "targeted instructions" from the poll panel. Calling the move a "selective witch-hunt", the party questioned why similar checks were not being applied to leaders of the BJP when they come to the state for the poll campaign. The elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases - on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.