Kolkata, Oct 9: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Election Commission, alleging that its officials were “threatening” officers of her government and “acting under political influence” even before the announcement of assembly poll dates.
She also asserted that the BJP was “playing with fire” in the name of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and warned that any attempt to tamper with the voters’ list would be tantamount to “betrayal of democracy”.
“The Election Commission is threatening Bengal government officers. We will not tolerate this,” the TMC supremo said at a press conference at the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’.
Banerjee’s remarks came on the last of the two-day visit of a four-member EC delegation which visited West Bengal to oversee preparedness for the impending SIR exercise to be conducted in the state where assembly elections are due next year.
Questioning the conduct of the visiting EC officials, Banerjee wondered how they could summon state government officers before the poll schedule was declared.
“Election dates are yet to be announced in Bengal; how can EC officials visiting the state summon government officers?” she asked. (PTI)
