The CPI(M) on Sunday condemned the violence and booth-capturing during municipal polls in West Bengal and asked the Election Commission to take note saying it would be necessary to take lessons and make adequate arrangements for the 2016 state assembly elections. Terming the violent incidents on Saturday as “blatant attack on democracy”, the party politburo said these polls were “a total mockery of democracy”.
“Polling booths were captured, Opposition parties’ agents driven out and voting manipulated. A small contingent of central forces sent on the eve of the election were not deployed by the State gGovernment and instead sent for sight-seeing. This is a blot on Indian democracy,” said CPI(M) in a statement here.
“The CPI(M) calls upon the people of West Bengal who have a tradition of fighting against such authoritarian terror and who established a record of restoring democracy through people’s struggles to resist such attacks on democracy by the Trinamool Congress in the State, “it added.
The left party said the the Election Commission of India must review these developments, though these fall under the purview of the State Election Commission and the State Government. This is necessary to learn lessons and prepare for adequate arrangements when the state assembly elections are held in 2016,” the CPI(M) Politburo.