West Bengal: Civil society members seek removal of CEO

Representative of political parties as well as members of the civil society on Thursday met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi and demanded the removal of West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Sunil Gupta and lodged serious complaints against election observers, Central forces DMs, SPs, OCs and ruling party leaders and workers.

A group of intellectuals, including former Supreme Court Justice Asok Ganguly, poet Sankha Ghosh, painter Samir Aich and others also demanded Mr Gupta’s removal. Veteran actor Soumitro Chatterjee and filmmaker Aparna Sen were not personally present to meet the CEC, but they had signed a memorandum which was given to the full bench of the EC.

“We are not satisfied with the roles played by Mr Gupta and deputy election commissioner Sandeep Saxena. They should be removed along with SPs and DMs of Birbhum and Murshidabad districts,” senior Congress leader Manas Bhuniya said.

Led by senior CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb, the Left Front alleged that Mr Gupta was not discharging his duties properly. “We have raised our complaint against the CEO. He is in-charge and has not been discharging his duties properly. We have lodged about 156 complaints to CEC and CEO but we received improper replies from the CEO office. The CEO office has not taken any strong action against the ruling party. We have our doubts about the integrity of some officers of the CEO office,” Mr Deb said.

Echoing the similar views, BJP national secretary and co-observe for Bengal Siddharth Nath Singh said, “The Election Commission cannot be a mute spectator. The CEO office has not been able to win the confidence of voters.”

The intellectuals, who met Mr Zaidi on Thursday, also lodged a complaint against TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal who on a number of occasions made provocative speeches to intimidate voters and polling agents. “He should be put in a place from where he cannot intimidate voters,” said the former Supreme Court judge. Among others in the delegation of intellectuals were theatre activists Kaushik Sen and Chandan Sen, social activist Bolan Gangopadhyay and educationist Mirat-ul-Nahar. “I am in agreement with what the memorandum says. That is why I am here, said Akademi award winner poet Shankha Ghosh. Brushing aside such allegations, TMC vice-president leader Mukul Roy said, “Such allegations are an insult to the people of Bengal who went out to vote.”