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Journalism of Courage
Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee Sunday criticised the State Election Commission (SEC) over the panchayat polls. He said that he had not seen such a violent run-up to an election in West Bengal during his long political career.
“The SEC is not being able to take independent decisions. It should discharge its duties without any influence. But today we can see that it has failed to conduct a peaceful election,’’ Chatterjee said. He appealed to the SEC to restore the people’s democratic rights and control violence “because this panchayat election has turned into a farce.” Chatterjee underlined the state government cannot give directions to the SEC since it is an independent body. He added that the government should have sought central forces instead of asking for additional forces from some states.
“When such violence had taken place, the people and the media had condemned it. I also condemn it,’’ said Chatterjee when asked to comment about poll violence during Left rule. “But does it mean that we should follow that trend? Instead of giving excuses, we must not follow such trend. In my long political career, I have seen a lot of elections and also took part in a number of them. But I have not seen this kind of violence …,’’ said Chatterjee, who was expelled from the CPM in July 2008. “I feel hurt to see it and I am saying all this to register my protest.”
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