CHIEF Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday said strict instructions have been issued to the West Bengal bureaucracy to ensure a level playing field for all political parties, and asserted that any form of violence will not be tolerated during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Kumar, addressing a press conference here, said the goal of the Election Commission is to ensure free, fair and violence-free elections in the State. “There is no place for fear or intimidation in elections. Any partisan approach to the bureaucracy will not be tolerated; we have made this clear. There is absolutely no tolerance for any form of violence in this celebration of democracy,” he said.

 

Kumar said a sufficient number of central forces will be deployed in West Bengal, and it will be done in an “impartial manner”. The CEC also emphasised that law enforcement agencies and other related entities have been instructed to maintain strict surveillance on both interstate and international borders to curb the flow of inducements, especially drugs, gold, and counterfeit Indian currency. BJP DEMANDS DEPLOYMENT OF CAPF: THE BJP, in its representation to the full bench of EC demanded that only central armed police forces (CAPF) be deployed in West Bengal to ensure free and fair Lok Sabha polls in the State. CENTRAL AGENCIES MUST NOT IMPEDE ELECTORAL PROCESS, SAYS TMC: THE Trinamool Congress urged the Election Commission to ensure that central agencies must not impede the electoral process.

 

The TMC delegation also appealed to the commission to make sure that “central forces are not pressurised by the BJP”. Terming BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari as a “habitual offender”, the TMC asked EC members to “keep a close watch” on him.The party demanded that Lok Sabha polls to the 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal be conducted in a single day and not in phases. The party delegation, which met the full bench of EC here, said that the commission should accept 11 voter IDs on the polling day