New Delhi: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation comprising Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, and Chandan Mitra approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday to lodge a complaint against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regarding an alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
The TMC claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo was being published on railway tickets as part of a government scheme, which, the party said, was in violation of the MCC. It then urged the poll body to ensure that the pictures were taken off rail tickets.
Earlier this month, a BJP delegation comprising Ravi Shankar Prasad, JP Nadda and others had urged the EC to declare Bengal as a ‘super sensitive zone’ while expressing apprehensions that the ruling TMC government might not allow free and fair elections to be held in West Bengal.
Speaking to media after the meeting with EC officials, Prasad had said, “We have demanded that entire Bengal be declared a super-sensitive zone. We have also handed them (EC) a list of officers whose impartiality is doubtful and urged that they be removed from election duties. Around 100 murders took place during Panchayat elections in West Bengal. Officers sit on dharnas along with Chief Minister. The ruling party (BJP) president’s chopper is not allowed to land there.”
Prasad had also asked for central forces to be deployed at all polling booths in West Bengal while alleging that the state police functioned as “workers of TMC.”
In response to this, Derek, while speaking to media outside the EC office on Tuesday, said the BJP’s allegations were “baseless”.
“West Bengal is a peaceful state. There is no such emergency situation to declare Bengal a super sensitive state as demanded by BJP,” he added.
West Bengal will vote in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]