Kolkata, March 7 – A day before the arrival of the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Kolkata on Sunday night, posters mocking Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, flooded the ward of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) which houses the residence of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
The full bench of the ECI, led by Kumar, will arrive in Kolkata with a packed schedule for the next two days, reviewing the ongoing judicial adjudication of voter documents identified under the "logical discrepancy" category, as well as the preparedness for the crucial state assembly elections scheduled later this year.
A caricature shows Kumar lying on the ground, struggling to survive, and saying, "I made a mistake. Please forgive me, Madam."
A woman's fist is depicted hitting Kumar's jaw. The woman's face is not visible in the cartoon. The word "tigress" is written on the fist. The picture also gives a faint impression of the saree with a white base and a light-blue border, considered the signature attire of the Chief Minister.
The entire poster, presented in the form of a cartoon, also features a picture of a judge sitting at his bench.
The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had described the poster-cartoon as a reflection of "cheap taste and a highly derogatory expression."
BJP councilor in KMC, Sajal Ghosh, said that since the ECI acts as an important institution in the system of Indian democracy, such an insult towards the person heading that institution is unpardonable.
"This is also a reflection of Trinamool Congress' anxiety over the Special Intensive Revision exercise, which had already resulted in the deletion of names of lakhs of bogus voters," he added.
Political observers feel that Trinamool Congress had deliberately pasted these posters just before the visit of the full bench of the Commission, and hence the posters have been displayed at those public places through which a large number of people commute on a daily basis.