Panchayat Polls: WB Guv sends sealed envelope to SEC containing field visit observations to violence-hit areas

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 5 : West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday sent a sealed envelope to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha which contained observations of his field visits to violence-hit areas in the state ahead of upcoming Panchayat polls.

West Bengal Governor also called SEC Rajiva Sinha in Raj Bhavan to discuss the issue of the report which he had got from the violence-hit areas in the state.

Ahead of the July 8 Panchayat polls in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress on Monday wrote to State Election Commission (SEC) against Governor CV Ananda Bose for "interdicting" the election process and attempting to "portray the existence of a parallel government" in the state.

"The Governor is conducting a meeting with workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party using facilities of the state such as Guest Houses/Circuit Houses and Transport facilities and by doing so is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct, West Bengal Panchayat Election Act, 2003 and Constitution of India," TMC's letter read.

It further pointed out that it is not right of the Governor to question the role of the State Election Commission.

"The Governor is interdicting the election process by making unwarranted statements questioning the conduct of elections by the state election commission," it stated.

Governor Ananda Bose who has been visiting various places where violence had earlier broken out in the state criticised the ongoing violence in Panchayat polls and said that the violence can be described as politics of "murder", "intimidation" and of "muscle flexing".

"My visit to the field has convinced me that there is violence in certain pockets of West Bengal. There is a manifestation of what is called the politics of murder, the politics of intimidation, the politics of muscle flexing," he said.

Governor CV Ananda Bose said that his visits should not be construed as a "fault-finding mission" but a "fact-finding mission".

"I am visiting the various places of occurrence of violence not as part of any fault-finding mission but as a fact-finding mission," the West Bengal Governor said.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday paid a visit to a private hospital in Cooch Behar to meet the injured in the violence at Dinhata.

The Governor spoke to the Cooch Behar superintendent of Police and the district magistrate.

The panchayat elections will be held in a single phase, with the counting of votes scheduled on July 11.

The polls are likely to see a fierce tussle for control of local administrations between the ruling TMC and the BJP and will be a litmus test for both parties ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections.