Deadline for Bengal DGP to submit report to ECI on mob attack on poll observer ends today

Kolkata, Jan 6 (IANS) The deadline for the Director General of West Bengal Police, Rajeev Kumar, to submit an action taken report to the Election Commission of India on an incident of heckling and attack on the ECI-appointed special observer in the South 24 Parganas district expires on Tuesday.

The ECI-appointed special roll observer, C. Murugan, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was at Magrahat in the South 24 Parganas district reviewing and supervising the hearing sessions there last month when the ruling Trinamool Congress activists allegedly attacked his vehicle and personally heckled him.

The state police were then accused of not making adequate security arrangements for Murugan, despite his trip being scheduled and the district police authorities being informed well in advance.

After that incident, Murugan sent a detailed report on the matter to the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi, and thereafter, on January 3, the ECI sought a detailed report from DGP Kumar.

The deadline for sending the report is expiring at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and it is to be seen whether the report reaches the ECI by that time or not.

In the communique to the DGP sent on January 3, the ECI also cautioned the state police that similar lapses in the future regarding the security arrangements for the voter list observers will not be taken lightly.

Since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) started in West Bengal from November last year, there have been several instances of heckling of electoral officers, and in almost all these cases, the ruling Trinamool Congress activists were held responsible.

Even the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, was also not spared, and there had been several instances of unruly agitations in front of his office in central Kolkata by a Trinamool Congress-backed association of booth-level officers (BLOs).

Amid such developments, last month, the Union Home Ministry decided to upgrade the security for CEO Manoj Agarwal, following the ECI’s recommendations in the matter.

The security grade for Agarwal was upgraded to ‘Y-category’, thus entitling him to security cover by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel. At the same time, CAPF deployment will also be there at the CEO’s office in central Kolkata.

Recently, the ECI recommended to the Union Home Ministry for the deployment of CAPF at the CEO’s office, besides upgrading the personal security of the CEO.

src/dpb