West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has asked State Election Commissioner Saurab Das to brief him on the civic poll ‘violence and lawlessness’ on Monday.
“State Election Commissioner Saurab Das has been called upon to brief Governor anytime before 10 am tomorrow in view of alarmingly disturbing inputs, depicting scenario of violence and lawlessness, with administration in partisan mode and systemic failure,” stated a Raj Bhawan Press release.
“Today I have seen how democratic values have been throttled. I am hurt to find that West Bengal has turned out to be a gas chamber of democracy… People are losing faith in democratic process. I am aghast and cannot believe that the electoral process could be so polluted. It was a war where the entire administration and the police machinery was on side along with the dispensation that is in power and the state election commission headed by the state election commissioner has abdicated its authority. I await his response and I expect that he will heed law and the constitution,” the Governor said.
“This is not the time to look for alibis. This is not time to act smart. This is the time to discharge his constitutional obligations. I expect the state election commissioner to abide by his constitutional obligation so that the purity of the election process is maintained. It is my duty to protect the constitution and I shall do everything to discharge my duties,” the governor added.
Voting for 108 municipalities across Bengal has begun from 7 a.m. on Sunday. according to the West Bengal State Election Commission. About 95 lakh (95,59,790) voters are slated to exercise their franchise to elect ward representatives and mayors that are spread across 2,276 wards over 108 municipalities.
State DGP Manoj Malviya said, “There have been sporadic incidents but there is no report of any widespread violence. The election has been conducted peacefully and the police and the administration have discharged their duties impartially”.