Election Commission of India, which was once reformed by TN Seshan (in early 1990s) is now facing serious questions over its legitimacy as an organization which coordinates the national and state elections. On one hand, it claimed that the responsibility of the security of CM Mamata Banerjee, falls on Director of Security, an officer under the administrative control of the West Bengal police, and on the other hand, it decided that polling stations in the state-election would be no-man’s land for the state police.

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Election Commission & TMC have had a troubling relationship of late, with the ruling party in West Bengal having continuously questioned the commission’s decisions. TMC has also accused the poll-body of acting in favour of the BJP.

The poll-body was also blamed by TMC in a memorandum submitted to the ECI, that highlighted that the partisan and biased approach of the ECI has made “free, fair and transparent elections” in West Bengal a distant reality.

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Another letter, which was signed by TMC MPs Derek O’Brien, Saugata Roy and Mahua Moitra as well as former BJP leader and Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who recently joined the party, stated, “It is becoming increasingly clear that free, fair and transparent elections in the state of West Bengal is becoming a distant reality. This is evident from the partisan and biased approach taken by the EC in respect of the ongoing elections in the state.”

TMC has expressed indignation at reports which suggested that the Election Commission has decided to not allow state police within 100 metres of the polling stations, making the sites a no-man’s land for the state police.

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In this regard, the letter from the TMC delegation further added, “It has been reported in the media that the EC has decided to not permit the presence of state police within 100 metres of polling stations and only deploy Central Forces in such an arena. If true, this decision is unprecedented and casts severe aspersions on the reputation of the police administration in the state of West Bengal.”

In its defence, sources in the polling body have stated that the given instruction from the ECI is meant for the civic police, made up of  civic volunteers who are deployed in aid of the state police. The TMC-delegation also asked for a proper coordination between state police and central forces at polling-stations to ensure a free & fair election.

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TMC also has demanded the election commission for the tally of all VVPAT machines, which the delegation claimed has been summarily dismissed. In this matter, the letter from TMC added, “It may be noted that the very purpose of installing VVPAT machines are considerable cost has deliberately been made redundant and ineffective. We may remind you, that not only was the said judgement primarily meant for the 2019 general elections but that the law insists that every time EVMs are used, there must be a sui generis consideration of facts, circumstances and necessities.”

In 2019, the Supreme Court had dismissed a writ petition which had sought 100% random physical counting of the EVM-VVPAT in the LS polls. The Supreme Court had also refused to hear and delve into the issue of EVM programming, where the review plea had contended that Indian democracy could not be left to the mercy of EVM programmers.

Schedule for the upcoming elections in India (four states and a UT) was announced on February, 26, 2021. In West Bengal, the election will be held in 8 phases from March 27 to April 29 and the vote counting will take place on May, 02, 2021.