West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday sought details of deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for civic polls in Kolkata from State Election Commissioner (SEC) Sourav Das, who met him.
Mr Dhankhar said on social media, “SEC @MamaOfficial signals to Governor Mr Jagdeep Dhankhar that regarding deployment of #CAPF he will be back by 4th December and assured that all steps will be taken for fair, fair and free elections “
The governor said he “signaled to the SEC that constitutional provisions have greater impact and should be followed”.
The governor met the SEC on 23 November and emphasized that “the SEC was at par with the ECI in its authority and should be non-partisan, independent and effective and not an extension of the government.”
The SEC has said that the decision on deployment of CAPFs will be taken in consultation with the police officers. The issue has been crucial for all elections in the state due to fears of election-related violence.
The Trinamool Congress leadership accused the governor of acting outside his jurisdiction as the SEC is an independent body “empowered with superintendence, direction and control of all elections to panchayats and civic bodies”.
Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that despite the deployment of CAPF in the assembly elections, TMC had won 217 seats and BJP got only 70.
State BJP President Sukant Majumdar said that there is no possibility of conducting free and fair elections without the deployment of CAPFs. He said that the BJP would approach the Supreme Court for posting.
The Calcutta High Court is hearing a petition filed by the BJP leadership seeking that elections to all municipal bodies be held on a single day. Elections to 112 municipal bodies are pending. The SEC has announced that polling for the 144th ward of KMC will be held on December 19.
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