KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP will file a petition at the Supreme Court seeking protection by central forces during the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.
Speaking to media here on Wednesday, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said that they want deployment of central forces during the elections as they fear the State Election Commission would not be able to conduct free and fair elections.
On the other hand, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi met State Election Commissioner Amarendra Kumar Singh at Raj Bhavan and expressed concern over the attacks on Opposition workers during filing of nomination over the past two days. Singh said measures are being taken to ensure peaceful filing of nomination.
Irked by the meeting, Trinamool Congress MPs led by Sudip Bandopadhyay met Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi and alleged that the Governor was interfering in the administrative matters of the state.
TMC secretary Partha Chatterjee said that Raj Bhavan has turned into a political party’s office and alleged that trouble-makers were taking shelter under the shelter of the Governor. He added that while TMC has filed 1614 nominations so far, Opposition parties have filed 1821 nominations out of which BJP has filed 1146 nominations, CPM 351 and Congress 127 nominations.
On the other hand, CPM state committee secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra urged Left workers to stay in groups when going to file nominations and urged them not to ‘leave an inch’ to TMC without a fight.
Meanwhile, clashes between TMC and BJP workers continued unabated throughout the state on Wednesday. While TMC worker Yusuf Bakshi, 27, was found dead in Malda’s Kaliachak, BJP workers’ houses were vandalised at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas and shots were fired by party workers in Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district. BJP and TMC workers clashed at Purulia and Paschim Burdwan districts over filing of nomination. Some 22 BJP workers were arrested for violence at Onda in Bankura district.