A day after the Election Commission cracked the whip ordering summary transfers of 35 senior officers — including four Superintendents of Police, a District Magistrate, two SDPOs, an SDM and 27 inspectors in-charge — for their alleged political bias and laxity in enforcing pre-electoral Model Code of Conduct, a fuming Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched a scathing attack on the poll panel for its alleged activism.
Attacking the Commission for preferring Central forces to the State police, Banerjee said “when there is poll in Bengal you send police from Delhi but what you will do when there is an election in Delhi. Then I will remind you of this precedence.”
Attacking the BJP for pulling the strings from behind, Banerjee said “conspire as much as you can against us but finally we will win the elections.”
Days after a full Bench of the Commission visited Bengal the SPs of Nadia, Malda, Burdwan and South Dinajpur and the DM of Hooghly were transferred out within a short notice of 24 hours sending a quiver down the State administrative machinery even as the police jumped into action rounding up and taking undertakings from a whole lot of history-sheeters.
Apart from the transfers the Commission sent in five Chief Electoral Officers from other States to head five teams of special observers who will tour the State and file reports on state of affairs. All the CEOs concerned had resumed their charges by Friday evening.
Asking the EC to requisition forces from the United States Banerjee told an election rally in North Bengal that “even if they ask Obama (US President) to send the forces from there we will finally win because the Commission can bring forces for the BJP and left but it cannot caste votes for them.”
In an apparent threat to the new officers who replaced the transferred ones Banerjee said “even if they (EC) replace one officer by another they should remember that the new officer who comes is also from the Bengal cadre and will work in this State only.”