CM calls for collegium to select EC officials

Kolkata: Calling the 2019 Lok Sabha poll a "scandalous election", Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday demanded that electoral reforms should be carried out immediately and there should be a collegium to select the members of the Election Commission of India.

Banerjee said the general election was "the most scandalous election in view of the muscle and money power that had been used. To stop this, electoral reforms should be made."

It may be mentioned that Banerjee had been demanding electoral reforms for over a decade. She reiterated that a thorough search should be conducted into the allegations of EVM tampering.

Banerjee said a fact-finding committee should be set up immediately to find out how much money BJP had spent during the elections. "Sometime I hear that BJP had spent Rs 27,000 crore during the elections. Electoral bonds worth Rs 370 crore had been sold from the main branch of the State bank of India between May 6 and May 24. We do not know who the buyers are. I had told repeatedly during my election speeches that huge amounts of money were being smuggled to the districts by BJP leaders. What I had said then is now coming true," she said.

Banerjee said a nationwide campaign should be carried out by all the political parties, raising the demand of setting up a fact-finding committee. She said the committee should probe into the allegation that many Electronic Voting Machines had gone missing.

She added that a collegium should be set up to select the Election Commission members. "Three members had been nominated and they conducted the election. All the Opposition parties had made several complaints but they had refused to listen," Banerjee said.