Kolkata, July 28 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of beginning the process of training the booth-level officers (BLOs) in the state without giving prior intimation to the state government.
"The training process was started without informing me or the Chief Secretary," the Chief Minister said while addressing an administrative review meeting at Birbhum district.
Speaking on the occasion, she also accused a section of the District Magistrates of allotting duties for such BLO training without informing their higher authorities.
"I came to know that about 1,000 state government staff were recently sent to Delhi for this training purpose. But I was not aware of it. The district magistrates should have informed their higher authorities and the Chief Secretary," Chief Minister Banerjee said.
Thereafter, she also issued a subtle note of caution, reminding that those allotted election duties were state government employees at the end of the day.
"The authority of the Election Commission of India starts only after the election dates are announced and not before that. Do not forget that you are all state government employees. You will have to ensure that the name of a single genuine voter is not deleted from the voters' list. Everywhere, Bengali-speaking people are harassed. We must stand by them," the Chief Minister said.
Strongly reacting to the Chief Minister's latent caution reminding the BLOs that they were state government employees, BJP's Information Technology Cell Chief and the party's central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, claimed that the Chief Minister had now started to openly threaten ECI officials.
"West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is now openly threatening Election Commission officials, saying they work for the state and shouldn't follow directions from the National Election Commission! Why this desperation? To shield her illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya vote bank. She's brazenly opposing a clean, verified voter list -- because TMC's survival depends on fake voters," Malviya said in a statement which he posted on his official X account.
The BJP leader also claimed that this desperation on the part of Mamata Banerjee was because she knew that without those bogus votes, Trinamool Congress would collapse.
"This isn't just political arrogance -- it's a direct assault on India's Constitution and democracy!" Malviya added.
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