Kolkata, March 25 Trinamool Congress, on Wednesday, approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking the immediate removal of the new returning officer (RO), appointed for Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a Trinamool Congress candidate, is pitted against Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
On March 23, the ECI ordered the replacement of as many as 74 ROs in West Bengal, which is going to a two-phase poll next month. Of those 73 ROs, one was for Bhabanipur, and Surajit Roy was appointed as the new Returning Officer. The Trinamool Congress has now approached the ECI opposing Roy’s appointment.
“Roy, as all know, is an extremely close confidant of the LoP and virtually operates as per his instructions. So we doubt possibilities of irregularities following his appointment as the RO of Bhabanipur and hence have approached the Commission raising objections about his appointment,” said a senior leader of the Trinamool Congress.
Already, the state government and the ECI are at loggerheads following ECI’s decision to transfer, replace, and depute bureaucrats and police officers from West Bengal to other states. The transfer of the 72 ROs in one go has only added to the bitterness.
The ruling party has alleged that these transfers, replacements, and deputations of bureaucrats and police officers were deliberately carried out by the Commission at the behest of the Union government and the BJP.
A crucial hearing on a public interest litigation challenging such a transfer will be at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court later in the day.
This time, besides Bhabanipur, Suvendu Adhikari is also contesting from Nandigram in East Midnapore, where he was a two-term legislator, first from Trinamool Congress and then from the BJP.
The two-phase polling in West Bengal will be on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, polling will be held for 152 Assembly constituencies, and on April 29, voting will be held for the remaining 142 seats.
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