Kolkata: Senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday said the party wants Supreme Court-monitored Lok Sabha polls as the BJP’s “tricks are destroying” institutions like the Election Commission.
In a strong rebuttal, the saffron party accused the Trinamool Congress of disrespecting the poll panel.
O’Brien posted on X: “BJP’s filthy tricks destroying institutions like the Election Commission of India. Are BJP so nervous to face people that they are turning ECI into a party office to target the Opposition? ECI or His Master’s Voice?”
“Transferring officers of elected state governments! For free and fair elections. We want Supreme Court-monitored Election 2024,” he said.
His remarks came a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) directed the removal of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar and mandated the appointment of Vivek Sahay, once suspended by the poll panel, as the new state police chief, with the TMC accusing the BJP of controlling the constitutional body.
However, within 24 hours, the ECI removed Sahay from the post on Tuesday and directed the state government to appoint Sanjoy Mukherjee in his place.
Along with Kumar, the ECI on Monday ordered the removal of home secretaries of six states, and the secretary of the general administrative departments of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh.
Responding to the TMC’s demand, West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said EC has ordered the removal of officials in other states too, but no other party has cried foul over it.
“The TMC is cribbing over the removal of Rajeev Kumar as they had some sinister design during the polls using him at the helm of the police department of the state,” Majumdar claimed.
The Balurghat MP said, “Kumar is known as a police official close to the ruling dispensation. So it is quite natural that he will be removed. But the remarks by the TMC were tantamount to insulting the poll panel.”
Criticising the removal of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, the Trinamool Congress on Monday claimed it was a glaring example of the BJP’s “control” over the ECI.
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