Central and state police did not perform on rural poll day in Bengal: CPM

CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Mohd Salim on Monday alleged that both the central forces and the state police failed to perform their duties to protect voters during the July 8 panchayat elections. He questioned why central forces were not deployed in all the polling booths despite orders of the Calcutta High Court. “Both the central forces and the state police did not perform their duty to protect voters,” he said. BSF DIG S S Guleria had said on Saturday that despite efforts by the central forces to get the list of sensitive booths from the State Election Commission, it was not provided. Stating that TMC miscreants were also killed in poll violence, Salim alleged that it happened owing to its politics of giving indulgence to history-sheeters. “Had the schemes brought by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee worked, there would not have been no need for the ruling party to engage goons to intimidate voters,” he said. Lauding the Supreme Court for refusing to interfere in a Calcutta High Court order on TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee over questioning by the central agencies, Salim said it is to be seen how soon the Enforcement Directorate (ED) takes action. The apex court had on Monday refused to interfere with the CBI and ED probe against Banerjee in the alleged West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, saying it cannot stultify the investigation in the case.

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