EC's reply to Mamata's letter on Nandigram poll biased: TMC

Kolkata: Reacting to the Election Commission's reply to Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chairperson Mamata Banerjee's complaint against alleged 'booth capturing' and entry of 'outsiders' at a polling station at Boyal in Nandigram during the second phase of polls, party's spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Sunday said the poll panel's response is biased. Ghosh claimed that EC's reply reflected that it was acting in a partisan manner.

The EC rejected the allegations raised by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee as being "factually incorrect." In her hand-written complaint, Banerjee had alleged that no genuine voters were allowed to enter the booth at Boyal Maktab Primary School in the presence of the Central Forces.

"How can the Commission deny that though section 144 was imposed BJP supporters had assembled close to the polling booth at Boyal in Nandigram and shouted slogans in support of their candidate (Suvendu Adhikari)? People of Bengal had witnessed what happened on that particular day. Mamata Banerjee will win by a huge margin from Nandigram but that does not mean that BJP can do anything taking advantage of the biased approach of the Commission," said Ghosh.

Stating that the allegations made by Banerjee were genuine, he maintained that the top brass of the party would communicate their standpoint about such a reply from the Commission in due course of time. The Commission called Banerjee's handwritten complaint "factually incorrect" and "devoid of substance".

The poll panel said it was contemplating action under the relevant sections of the Model Code of Conduct and the Representation of the People Act.