A delegation of BJP met the Election Commission on Tuesday and sought that Bengal be declared a “sensitive” state during 2019 elections due to its “history of violence”.
A delegation of BJP met the Election Commission on Tuesday and sought that Bengal be declared a “sensitive” state during 2019 elections due to its “history of violence”.
Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad who was part of the BJP delegation said that central forces should be deployed at all poll stations in Bengal. “We have demanded that the West Bengal should be declared as super-sensitive state,” Prasad said after meeting the poll panel.
Bengal with its 42 Lok Sabha seats is a crucial state for the BJP as it tries to return to power. In 2014, the Trinamool won 34 seats, the Congress won 4, while the BJP and the CPI(M) bagged two seats each.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Bengal is the only state in the country where over 100 people were killed in the local elections so deployment of central police forces at all booths is a must. “We have conveyed to the EC that Bengal’s track record in free & fair election is very very deplorable,” Prasad said.
Also read: 10 sitting MPs dropped as Trinamool releases list for 2019 elections
He also alleged that the state policemen act like Trinamool cadre. The BJP said officers who are “close” to the Mamata Banerjee government should be kept away during the general elections. “Officers sit on demonstration with the chief minister. Such officers should be removed. Need an impartial election,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Prasad was alluding to former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar who was at the centre of a bitter faceoff between the state and central governments in February this year. In a letter to the Bengal chief secretary, the Union home ministry had said that Rajeev Kumar and some other police officers sat on a dharna along with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad who was part of the BJP delegation said that central forces should be deployed at all poll stations in Bengal. “We have demanded that the West Bengal should be declared as super-sensitive state,” Prasad said after meeting the poll panel.
Bengal with its 42 Lok Sabha seats is a crucial state for the BJP as it tries to return to power. In 2014, the Trinamool won 34 seats, the Congress won 4, while the BJP and the CPI(M) bagged two seats each.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Bengal is the only state in the country where over 100 people were killed in the local elections so deployment of central police forces at all booths is a must. “We have conveyed to the EC that Bengal’s track record in free & fair election is very very deplorable,” Prasad said.
Also read: 10 sitting MPs dropped as Trinamool releases list for 2019 elections
He also alleged that the state policemen act like Trinamool cadre. The BJP said officers who are “close” to the Mamata Banerjee government should be kept away during the general elections. “Officers sit on demonstration with the chief minister. Such officers should be removed. Need an impartial election,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Prasad was alluding to former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar who was at the centre of a bitter faceoff between the state and central governments in February this year. In a letter to the Bengal chief secretary, the Union home ministry had said that Rajeev Kumar and some other police officers sat on a dharna along with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.