Mamata blames SEC for violence

“Every death is a tragedy,irrespective of the party he or she belongs to. A family loses a precious member who can never be replaced,” she added.

As part of “sharing her thoughts” on the ongoing panchayat polls,she also criticised the holding of the elections in the five phases. “The CPM,Congress,BJP —- and even the court —- all preferred a lengthy drawn out five-phased elections. No one listened to our logical and practical suggestion about (holding) one-day poll. The ground reality is that these are local elections,often with micro local issues at stake. These are not Lok Sabha elections and needed to be handled differently,” she wrote.

Accusing the Congress,CPM,BJP and the Maoists of “hell bent on spreading violence across the state”,she urged people to maintain peace and exercise their voting rights freely. “Let the people of this state enjoy the fresh air of democracy which has been missing for decades,” she wrote.

Mamata claimed that the first and the second phase of panchayat poll had passed off peacefully. “Yes in the third phase there have been some incidents. In the first three phases elections were held in the districts where the Trinamool have a huge support among the common people,” said the Trinamool chief.

She accused the Congress of trying to create mischief in the fourth and fifth phases as it has some presence in

Malada and Murshidabad district. “In the fourth and fifth phases starting from tomorrow,there are areas (Malda,Murshidabad) where the Congress too has their presence. They are deliberately upto mischief there,” claimed Banerjee.

Asked for his reaction to Mamata Banerjee’s remarks,SEC Secretary Tapas Ray declined to give any,saying “all the parties involved in the case,SEC,state government and Centre,were present in the court.”

“I don’t think there is any need for giving reaction,” PTI quoted Ray as saying.

State Election Commissioner Mira Pande could not be reached for her reaction.

With PTI inputs