The CPI(M) hit back at the Election Commission today, a day after the panel had three police officers removed for alleged bias towards the ruling party. The Marxists fielded partriarch CM Jyoti Basu against the EC, which, he said, had given no reasons for the dismissal.‘‘What is the crime of the IPS officers?’’ Basu said, slamming the commission for not informing the officers and the government of its reasons for ‘‘punishing’’ them. ‘‘What crime did they commit and when ? The officials have a right to know. So does the government and so do the people of the state,’’ Basu said at a press conference at the party headquarters. ‘‘Even the Constitution says no government official can be removed without assigning any reason.’’ He said the officers would seek legal opinion for ‘‘judicial redressal’’.‘‘We did not expect the EC to do this. I know several officials for a long time. They are, otherwise, very efficient. But they will not be doing justice if they did not let the government or the officers know what they had done,’’ he said.The Election Commission yesterday removed three senior IPS officers — Malda DIG Gaurav Dutta, North 24-Parganas Basudev Bag and Hooghly SP Benoy Chakravarty — saying it had received complaints from Opposition parties against them of bias towards the ruling party.The other measures taken by the commission to ensure free and fair polls should be applied uniformly across the country, he said. ‘‘We don’t mind bringing Bengali-speaking people from outside the state but we hope the EC will take similar measure for other states also,’’ he said.
