Didi: Madras HC right, EC responsible for Covid surge

| | Kolkata
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Didi: Madras HC right, EC responsible for Covid surge

Tuesday, 27 April 2021 | Saugar Sengupta | Kolkata

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday made the most of the Madras High Court order — faulting the Election Commission of India for rising corona cases in the country — to launch a frontal attack on the poll panel holding it responsible for a surge in corona cases in her own State.

Welcoming the Madras High Court observation that the ECI could not avoid blame for the spread of pandemic Banerjee demanded immediate withdrawal of central forces saying about 3 lakh of them had been posted in the State without them being properly checked for their disease.

“The ECI has posted 3 lakh security forces in Bengal without checking whether they are corona positive or not … this has infected the people in the State in large numbers ... we want them to be withdrawn immediately,” the Banerjee said. 

The Chief Minister also alleged that “we have been repeatedly asking the ECI to shorten the phases of elections to avoid large scale infections but they would not listen to us … when you can single-phase election in Kerala, three phase in Assam why cannot you shorten the election phases in Bengal?” Banerjee asked saying “the ECI has proved that it is working according to the directions of the BJP … they wanted the poll panel to hold 8-phae elections and so they did it … the EC is responsible for increasing cases in Bengal.”

On the other hand the Left said that they had already cancelled their large rallies even before the High Court order and Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury said “we had even asked the EC to postpone the elections.”

The BJP however refuted Banerjee’s charges even as its leader Samik Bhattacharya said “she is using the HC order to bake her own bread … She has first to answer why the EC has to hold 8-phase elections… why cannot there be a single-phase polling in Bengal … she has to ask this answer to the TMC goons who loot votes.”

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