Kolkata, March 9 – A delegation from the West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) appealed to the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday to conduct the upcoming state assembly elections in a single phase, scheduled later this year.
A three-member delegation from the CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit, led by the party's Politburo member and state secretary in West Bengal, Mohd Salim, met the full bench of the Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, on Monday morning. Kumar was on a two-day visit to West Bengal.
CEC Kumar was in West Bengal to review the ongoing judicial adjudication of cases involving "logical discrepancies" in voter documents, as well as to assess the preparedness for the upcoming state assembly elections, scheduled later this year.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Salim said that the party delegation had demanded single-phase polling, or at most, two-phase polling. "At the same time, we questioned the Commission on why it made the common voters its enemies by conducting the Special Intensive Revision in such an unplanned manner. We questioned why the Commission had virtually declared war against the common people through this revision exercise. Why the Election Commission had turned into a 'Torture Commission?' We told them that ECI should maintain its own dignity as a constitutional body," Salim said.
A delegation from the Congress's West Bengal unit also met the ECI's full bench on Monday morning.
After the meeting, Congress delegation leader and former Rajya Sabha member, Pradip Bhattacharya, said that while they had not commented on the number of phases that the polls should be conducted in, they said that the Commission should do whatever is necessary to ensure free and fair polls.
"Whether there be a single-phase, two-phase, or three-phase polling that is not our lookout. What we asked the Commission is to ensure that the polls this time are conducted under blanket security cover to prevent repetition of the past instances of violence, rigging, and intimidation of voters and Opposition party agents. Though we will be happy if the vote is held in a single-phase. But security is our priority, and we have made it clear to the Commission," Bhattacharya said.