Supporting the state election commission’s recommendation for deployment of Central forces for the panchayat elections in the state, AICC secretary and in-charge of Bengal Congress, Shakeel Ahmed on Saturday expressed surprise at the state government’s reluctance to accept it.
“The Central forces will ensure free, fair and peaceful polls. They will ensure that innocent people are not killed and their houses are not attacked. The state election commission and nearly all political parties are in favour of the central forces then why is the state government opposed to the idea?” he asked.
Mr Ahmed was speaking to the media on the side lines of a Congress meeting on rural polls at the Bidhan Bhavan. Rejecting his contention, the state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee asked on what ground Mr Ahmed apprehended violence and murder during the panchayat elections in the state. “Law and order in Bengal was much better than in many other other states of the country. Mr Ahmed can ask the Union home minister about the situation in Bengal,” he added.
Echoing Mr Mukherjee’s view, All India Trinamul Congress general secretary Mukul Roy said that the Congress should remember that law and order was a state subject.