EC gives BJP, Cong one week’s time to respond to poll code violations
The poll panel on Saturday wrote to BJP president J P Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge seeking their comments over the matter by 1 pm on Monday.
The five-member team sent by the BJP leadership to investigate post-panchayat poll violence in Bengal comprising Vinod Sonkar, Suresh Kasyap, Vinod Chavda, S Muniswamy, and Manoj Rajoria today left for Delhi, postponing their visit to Garbeta and Kharagpur.
BJP MP Vinod Sonkar, heading the five-member fact-finding team of the saffron party to West Bengal in the aftermath of panchayat elections, stated on Monday that Trinamul Congress-backed goons started unleashing violence on the BJP workers whose residences were visited by the fact-finding team.
“The BJP candidates even asked us not to visit Garbeta as TMC-backed miscreants could murder them after the fact-finding team’s visit there. The law and order in the state has collapsed. We shall submit our report to the national president JP Nadda.”
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He also claimed that post-poll violence in the state is common in every election, from parliamentary to rural polls. Today, the team went to Amta Howrah and faced a roadblock allegedly by TMC supporters. TMC supporters allegedly prevented the convoy with a wooden log. However, the team later reached Amta and spoke to victims’ family members.
Before the Assembly session, the usual all-party meeting was held at the house, convened by Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee; however, BJP MLAs did not attend that meeting. ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui also did not join. The Speaker expressed his displeasure as the opposition did not attend the meeting.
The meeting was convened at around 11 am that day. Representative legislators from the ruling party were present, but opposition legislators were absent. The MLAs of the ruling party said that they were called earlier too, but they did not come.
The BJP MLAs claim that the ruling party is breaking the ‘rules and principles’ of the Assembly, and the opposition is not being given due respect. That is why they decided to boycott the meeting.
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