Poll Panel Rules Out Attack On Mamata Banerjee, Says It Was Accident

The Election Commission has ruled out Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was attacked in Nandigram on Wednesday, saying it was an accident in which she was injured. The Commission, which held a meeting to discuss the issue after receiving a report on Friday, pointed out lapses on part of the Chief Minister's security personnel.

Security was "not properly handled" and the Chief Minister's security protocol was flouted, the Commission said.

Mamata Banerjee, who has Z-Plus security, has to travel in a bullet-proof car, but she was not.  Instead, the security in-charge was sitting in the bullet-proof car, the Commission, adding that action to be taken against the security in-charge Vivek Sahay.

On Wednesday, Ms Banerjee had said she was pushed by four or five people against her car and had the door shut on her, during her visit to Nandigram. There were no police personnel around her at the time, she had said.

The next day, however, she made no reference to the attack, saying instead,  "It is true that I was very badly hurt yesterday and that I have a foot injury, a bone injury and in the ligament and I had pain in my head and chest as a result of the injury".

"I was greeting people from the car bonnet and a huge pressure came....and the car crushed my foot," said the 66-year-old, who has been back on the campaign trail in a wheel chair.

Her party, the ruling Trinamool Congress, however, had blamed it squarely on the Election Commission's move to replace the state police chief.

In a letter to the poll body, the party said an attempt was made on the Chief Minister's life "within 24 hours of the removal of the Bengal police chief" by the Election Commission without the state government being consulted.

The Commission, which had immediately ordered an inquiry into the Nandigram incident, said the Trinamool memo questioned the "very basis of formation and functioning of the Election Commission".  

The poll panel said it was "completely incorrect" to suggest that it had taken over the law and order machinery in the state in the name of conducting elections.

"It looks undignified to even respond to the allegations of all this being done at the behest of a particular political party," its letter read.