EC to keep tab on Anubrata, Dubey gives clean chit to Birbhum administration

Kolkata: The Election Commission has decided to keep a tab on Anubrata Mondal, Trinamool Congress president of Birbhum on Monday, when the two constituencies of Birbhum and Bolpur will go to polls. The election officials will also monitor the movement of Mondal on that day.

It may be mentioned here that some political parties had demanded that Mondal should be kept within a house during the elections. They urged the Commission saying that Mondal can intimidate voters from the district, where there had been a law and order situation previously.

Refuting the claim of poor law and order situation, the Central Police Observer for Bengal Vivek Dubey gave a clean chit to the Birbhum district administration on Sunday, for putting in place adequate security arrangement to ensure free and fair elections in the two constituencies. Ahead of the elections, Dubey conducted two separate meetings at the Birbhum Circuit house on Sunday morning, one with the representatives of various political parties in the districts and another with district administrative officials to take a stock of the situation. After holding the meeting, Dubey expressed his satisfaction over the law and order situation. While speaking to the media, Dubey said: "We will ensure free and fair elections in the district. We discussed security measures with the administrative officials so that people can cast their votes without any fear."

"Overall security arrangement in the district is satisfactory. We are keeping a tab on the situation so that everyone can visit the polling booths to exercise their franchise without the fear of being intimidated. We have also held a meeting with various political party leaders and sought their suggestions," Dubey added.

He also visited Asansol to take a stock of the law and order situation, a day ahead of the elections and discussed law and order issues at length with senior officials of the West Burdwan district. Asansol is also going to poll on Monday.

The Election Commission has already sealed the borders in the Bengal-Bihar and Bengal-Jharkhand region, to ensure that miscreants do not sneak in from neighbouring states.