In a dramatic turn of events Bengal State Election Commissioner SR Upadhyaya on Tuesday resigned from his post following intense pressure from the ruling Trinamool Congress to go on with the counting process after he had decided to postpone counting in the wake of violence-marred civic elections to the Asansol, Bidhannagar and Bally municipal corporations on Saturday.
Upadhyaya, who was caught in the cross fire between the TMC and the Opposition parties — who had been vehemently demanding re-elections — and was pooh-pooed by the left Congress and the BJP as an agent of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, tendered his resignation to Governor KN Tripathi.
“The SEC came to me and handed over his resignation. I received his resignation as he pressed for it and sent the letter for the comments of the Government,” Tripathi said, adding he was yet to hear from the Government.
“TMC had come to me and demanded counting of votes. I have resigned after that as such pressure from any political party to the Election Commission is unwarranted and unacceptable,” Upadhyaya said.
Meanwhile what legal luminaries said as “unprecedented that violates law” the State Government promptly sent the name of State Transport Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay for the Election Commissioner’s post, sources said adding the Governor had already signed the letter.
Bandopadhyay who was currently touring Bhutan along with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was rushing back to Kolkata amid questions as to whether one could continue as a Government servant while heading a constitutional body like Election Commission.
Former Supreme Court Judge Ashok Ganguli called it “unprecedented” even as a section of opposition said they were exploring options to rush to the court “if any law is violated regarding this whole procedure because an SEC must resign from his government post and such appointment has to be done by the President of India.”
Till a regular appointment was made the election process had to be postponed, sources said. The Tuesday’s developments came as an upshot of the massive violenceduring the civic polls which saw armed goons beating up voters,clubbing journalists and casting false votes in presence of Ministers,MlAs and senior police officers.
In a single day 23 journalists of 8 media houses were badly beaten upprompting the political parties including the left, BJP and the Congress to hold a dharna at the SEC which then postponed thecounting forcing the TMC to stage a counter-dharna and pressure Upadhyaya to change his decision.