BJP demands West Bengal chief electoral officer's removal

New Delhi, April 17: The BJP on Sunday asked the Election Commission (EC) to remove the chief electoral officer of West Bengal, accusing him of "allowing Trinamool Congress (TMC) to violate electoral laws".

"We have asked the EC to immediately remove the chief electoral officer of West Bengal who is unabashedly allowing the TMC to flagrantly violate electoral laws and the commission's orders," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Bhupender Yadav told IANS after meeting the EC.

A delegation of BJP leaders, including union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajya Sabha member Bhupender Yadav, party spokesman Shrikant Sharma, went to the EC headquarters here on Sunday and submitted a memorandum.

The BJP also demanded that elections in nine assembly constituencies of the Birbhum district, where voting is still on, be revoked.

"The EC, during their recent visit to West Bengal on the April 14, passed an order for house arrest of Anubrato Mondal, the TMC district head of Birbhum. In clear and gross violation of EC orders, and encouraged by (chief minister) Mamata Banerjee, Anubrato Mondal continued his unlawful activities of spreading terror by touring all the nine assembly constituencies in his district," the BJP memorandum read.

"Reports of violence by the TMC goons at the behest of Mondal and Mamata Banerjee, have begun to pour in since the start of polls this morning," it added, drawing the EC's attention to the situation in West Bengal.

This is the second time within a week that a BJP delegation has approached the EC over West Bengal elecgtions.

IANS