Kolkata, April 2 – The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought a report from the Director General of the West Bengal Police regarding the incident in which seven judicial officers, including three women, who were involved in the ongoing adjudication of voters classified under the "logical discrepancy" category, were surrounded and held hostage at Kaliachak in the Malda district by a group of voters whose names had been deleted from the voter list.
The seven officials were taken hostage on Wednesday. However, around 1 a.m. on Thursday, a large police contingent led by senior district police officials arrived at the scene, removed the protesters, rescued the judicial officers, and escorted them to a safe location. They were rescued after being surrounded for approximately nine hours.
There had been reports from the district that even while being shifted to a safe location after being rescued, there was an attempt to attack the convoy.
While the judicial officers were being held hostage, another group of protesters blocked the National Highways adjacent to Block-I of Kaliachak under the Sujapur Assembly constituency in Malda district. Finally, the administration was able to persuade the protesters to lift the blockade after convincing them that the deleted names would be re-included in the voter list as soon as possible.
As usual, a political dispute has emerged between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the incident.
Union Minister of State for Education and former state president of the BJP, Sukanta Majumdar, said that this harassment of the judicial officers is a result of the constantly provocative statements made by the Trinamool Congress leadership, including the Chief Minister, against the ECI over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
"SIR is a pan-India exercise. There is no such chaos regarding the exercise in any other state, including states ruled by the opposition. West Bengal has been the only exception because the ruling party and the state administration have been attempting to disrupt the exercise from the beginning," said Majumdar.
Trinamool Congress, in its counter-reaction, has said that it is the duty of the ECI to ensure the security of judicial officers. Trinamool Congress' state general secretary and the party candidate from Beliaghata Assembly constituency in North Kolkata, Kunal Ghosh, said that his party never believes in taking the law into its own hands.
"On behalf of Trinamool, we want to clearly say that the entire responsibility for this incident lies with the ECI. We also want to say that Trinamool Congress does not support any attempt to take the law into its own hands. We are protesting against this mass deletion of voters' names, but without creating any chaos. Those who are creating such chaos are two or three parties supported by the BJP," Ghosh said indirectly, hinting at the Aam Aadmi Unnayan Party (AAUP), founded by erstwhile Trinamool Congress legislator, Humayun Kabir, and Asaduddin Owaisi-founded All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), who are jointly contesting in several Assembly constituencies, mainly minority-dominated ones, without directly naming these two parties.