TMC influencing voters ahead of assembly polls by placing party men as municipal administrators: Bengal BJP leader

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar on Tuesday attacked the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, saying it had resorted to the undemocratic practice of placing "party men" as administrators in municipalities to "grab power through the back door".

His remarks came after Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora saying that West Bengal government was not holding municipal elections for "unlawful gains" in the assembly elections.

Majumdar termed the action of ruling TMC as "anarchic and undemocratic".

"The terms of municipalities in the state expired for more than two-and-a-half years back and TMC has set the practice of appointing administrators without holding legitimate elections," Majumdar told .

"Instead of an elected representative, the ruling TMC has been placing its party men as administrators to look after the local bodies with the aim to grab the power through the back door. Through these local administrators, TMC wants to influence voters with graft and social scheme offerings ahead of 2021 assembly polls," he said, in response to a question about Chowdhury's letter.

He accused the ruling party of using police and administration against the opposition.

"The ruling party is throttling the rights of common people in a manner that is unprecedented and unheard of in India after the establishment of Panchayati Raj institutions," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )