Governor M.K. Narayanan on Monday voiced his displeasure over the manner in which All India Trinamul Congress general secretary Mukul Roy attacked state election commissioner Mira Pande even as the latter stuck to her stand on a three-phase panchayat election under the supervision of Central paramilitary forces.
When asked to comment on Mr Roy’s charge that Ms Pande was trying to delay the polls to avert the CPI(M)’s defeat, Mr Narayanan said: “All I would like to say is that criticism of somebody who is carrying out constitutional duties is unfortunate and it should be avoided.”
Voicing her anguish, the state election commissioner also described Mr Roy’s charge as unfortunate and explained that she was merely trying to conduct fair and peaceful election in the state. Sources said that the state election commission is sending yet another letter to the state government in which it will reiterate its stand and explain why a three-phase rural poll was necessary.
The commission will also point out that to ensure peaceful election, deployment of Central forces was necessary
On Sunday, casting doubts on the impartiality of the state election commissioner, Mr Roy had said that efforts were being made to delay the polls. He went so far as to claim her bias towards the CPI(M).