Kolkata: Terming as "unprecedented" the
Election Commission`s move to send a special team of observers
to West Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls, CPI(M) on Sunday said
the "unusual" decision would not add to the capacity of the
state government to ensure free and fair elections.
"The Election Commission of India has taken an
unprecedented step. It is sending the Chief Electoral Officer
of Bihar and also some police officers from outside the state.
We don`t think this will contribute to the capacity of the
state administration to hold free and fair polls and maintain
law and order," party general secretary Prakash Karat told
reporters after its Politburo meeting here.
Stating that he did not know the reason for the
"unusual" step of the Election Commission, Karat said he would
try to find out from the it the reason for such a move.
"It looks like the Bihar model is being adopted for
holding the elections in West Bengal. That is the message
going to the people," he said.
Referring to the letter written by Union Home Minister
P Chidambaram to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee about
the presence of armed CPI(M) camps in Junglemahals, he said,
"In the face of mounting evidence of a virtual collaboration
between Trinamool Congress and Maoists, it is surprising
that the home minister seeks to deviate from the issue and
make allegations against the CPI-M)."
Claiming that 365 Left Front workers were killed in
the Junglemahal over the past one-and-half years, he alleged
that Chidambaram was turning a blind eye to the fact.
"Despite the effort to instigate violence and target
workers of the Left parties, we are confident that the people
of Bengal would recognise that political violence was being
resorted to for narrow political ends," he said.
PTI
