The Opposition parties in West Bengal, in a meeting with the Election Commission of India full bench on Thursday, demanded heavy deployment of Central forces in the state during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls to ensure a free and fair election.
The political parties also demanded that the Central forces should not be kept under the control of State police officials as “they act as per orders of the TMC leadersâ€.
The full bench of the ECI, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, met representatives of various political parties here.
Besides leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), those of Opposition parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress called on the ECI’s top bosses at a five-star hotel in central Kolkata.
“We demanded heavy deployment of central forces to ensure free and fair polls. They should be deployed in each and every booth of the State and the central forces should not be under the control of the district police. Those police officials act as per the orders of TMC leaders,†BJP delegation leader Mukul Roy said.
The BJP has also demanded that fake voters in the electoral rolls be identified and their names removed. It also demanded that a senior IAS officer from outside the state be appointed as a chief state observer to oversee and supervise the functioning of the chief electoral officer.
