CPI(M) Polit Bureau members, Com. Sitaram Yechury and Com. S. Ramachandran Pillai, met the Election Commission today regarding the large-scale rigging and violence unleashed by the TMC in the third phase of polling in West Bengal today. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Com. Sitaram Yechury said that they have a submitted a memorandum to the EC, asking them to look into the matter at the earliest. He said that out of the 9 constituencies which went to poll today, 6 witnessed large-scale rigging. These include Howrah, Uluberia, Arambag, East Bardhaman, Bardhaman-Durgapur and Bolpur. Of these, Bolpur and Uluberia constituencies were most affected with a total of 175 and 146 booths being tampered with, respectively. This could happen because Central Forces were not deployed in most places and norms prescribed by the EC were not adhered to. One such example of violation of EC’s norms is that out of the 17,330 polling booths where polling was held today, only 324 had some sort of video surveillance. Com. Yechury said that in many areas within an hour of polling, polling agents of the opposition parties, especially the CPI(M), were physically assaulted and thrown out of the booths by TMC goons. He added that there are reports of widespread rigging in Srirampur constituency as well, but because of the lack of exact numbers of rigged booths, it was not included in the list of 6 affected constituencies.
Calling it a grave affront to democracy, Com. Yechury said that it is absolutely imperative to curb such violence at the earliest. If action is not taken at this stage, the next two phases of election in West Bengal, which have the bulk of the seats, will witness much higher levels of violence, he added. He also said that swift action needs to be taken against TMC hoodlums to send out a signal that such hooliganism and attack on the democratic rights of people will not be tolerated.
CPI(M) has demanded that a re-poll be conducted with proper deployment of central paramilitary forces and that those responsible for such grave malpractices be identified and apprehended. Com. Yechury said that they have advised the EC to procure and go through today’s media footage, some of which captures instances of rigging and booth capturing. He also said that the EC will take the final decision on the matter after the scrutiny meeting. This meeting is held in every constituency the day after it goes to poll, in which candidates are invited to give their opinions to determine whether polls were held in a fair manner.
To read the memo submitted to the EC, please click here.