Lock Up Anti-Socials: Trinamool To Poll Panel Ahead Of Nandigram Battle

Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress has written to the Election Commission, asking for the arrest of all anti-social elements in Purba Medinipur district -- largely controlled by Suvendu Adhikari and his family. Mr Adhikari -- a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who joined the BJP ahead of the elections -- is her rival in Nandigram, the place that catapulted Ms Banerjee to power in 2011. The second phase of the mammoth, eight-phase elections in Bengal will be held on Thursday, when voting will take place in Nandigram as well.

In another letter, the Trinamool said Mr Adhikari is harbouring criminals and putting them up in different hotels and guest houses of the state. Senior party leader Derek O'Brien, who wrote to the Commission, claimed that in spite of the local police being apprised of this, no action had been taken.

"During the first phase of polls in Purba (east) Medinipur, there has been large scale violence by anti-social elements of the Bharatiya Janata Party, resulting in grave injuries to many people and also various instances of booth capturing, rigging and jamming by them," the Trinamool wrote to the poll commission.

The party requested that in view of that, such people should be immediately taken into preventive custody.

The Trinamool Congress, which is locked in a tough fight with the BJP for the state's 294 seats, also asked the Election Commission to not deploy armed forces from any of the BJP or NDA-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh or Bihar for the ongoing elections. This, the party said, is to ensure that there is no partisanship and the elections are free and fair.

Since the elections were declared earlier this month, the Trinamool has been engaged in continuous conflict with the Election Commission, which started with shifting of the state police chief.

It escalated after the Chief Minister was injured in Nandigram. Her party had complained to the Commission, saying she was attacked and an attempt was made on her life. The Commission had disagreed, saying there was no evidence for such a conclusion, triggering a sharp response from the Trinamool chief.

"I am asking with respect to the Election Commission. Who is running the Election Commission? Amit Shah, are you running it? We want a free and fair election but who is Amit Shah? Who is he to guide the Election Commission? He is interfering in the work of the Election Commission... And this is working against us," Ms Banerjee had said at a poll rally.

The Commission had retorted with a strong letter.
Such comments "belittle" a constitutional body, wrote Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain.

The Commission, he added, "maintains the position that they would not like to keep on being put in the dock for alleged proximity to any political entity etc. However, if CM persists in creating and attempting to perpetuate this myth for reasons best known to her, it is singularly unfortunate, and it is only for CM to adjudge as to why she is doing so".