Kolkata, Feb 25 The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, on Wednesday sought a detailed and comprehensive report from the Kolkata Police Commissioner, Supratim Sarkar, in connection with the incident involving the heckling of the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, in front of the CEO's office in central Kolkata on Tuesday evening.
While the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, accompanied by a group of senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal, arrived in front of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer on Tuesday evening to submit a deputation and formally present their concerns before the CEO, members of a representative body of the booth-level officers (BLOs), reportedly affiliated with the ruling Trinamool Congress, gathered there and started staging a protest demonstration at the same location.
During the course of the protest demonstration and agitation, some members of the protesting group allegedly resorted to aggressive behaviour, with some among them even hurling their shoes towards Suvendu Adhikari, which led to heightened tension and disruption in front of the CEO’s office premises and surrounding areas.
Adhikari later accused the huge police contingent present at the location and deployed there of behaving like mere “puppets” and alleged that they deliberately refrained from taking effective steps to control the protesting members or prevent the heckling incident.
Earlier, on Wednesday morning, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) submitted another deputation to the Chief Electoral Officer, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, explaining in detail the sequence of events that unfolded on Tuesday evening and also formally requested the CEO to intervene in the matter and take appropriate action based on their complaint.
Finally, based on the complaints received from the Leader of the Opposition and the BJP leadership, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, on Wednesday evening formally sought a detailed report and explanation from the Kolkata Police Commissioner, Supratim Sarkar, regarding the entire incident and the circumstances under which the heckling took place, a CEO’s office insider confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided that the booth rationalisation process in West Bengal for the crucial Assembly elections in the state, scheduled to be held later this year, will be kept on hold temporarily and will not proceed immediately.
“This decision has been taken because, as per the order of the Supreme Court, although the final voters’ list in West Bengal will be published on February 28, supplementary lists will be published thereafter due to the ongoing judicial adjudication of voters’ documents identified under the ‘logical discrepancy’ category. Therefore, unless and until the final and confirmed number of voters is available after completion of the entire revision process, there will not be any booth rationalisation exercise,” the CEO’s office insider added.
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