The second team of special observers of the Election Commission has not come on the invitation of the Left parties. This surprising announcement was made by CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose on Saturday when the special observers fanned out in the districts to make an assessment of the law and order situation. “We have no idea
why have they come. We have not asked the EC team to visit the state again. They have come on their own,” Mr Bose added. He was talking to mediapersons after inspecting the Brigade Parade Ground on the eve of the Left Front rally.
Mr Bose took pains to explain that the Left parties had in fact voiced their reservations over the special observers’ visit. “We had pointed out that there was no need for the EC team to visit the state even before the election dates were announed. We had described their visit as unprecedented,” he added.
Mr Bose claimed that the representatives of the Left parties had merely submitted a memorandum to the Election Commmission.
A delegation of Left parties led by Sitaram Yechury had met Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi on February 7 in New Delhi and handed over a list of those places where the Trinamul Congress, Maoists and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha workers were targeting the CPI(M) supporters.
“But we had not requested them to visit the state. They have come again possibly in a balancing act,” Mr Bose added.
During the first visit of the special observers in the middle of January, the Left parties had complained that they had come at the behest of the Trinamul Congress and had visited only places idenitified by the main opposition party.