The Election Commission is willing to send, if necessary, another team to West Bengal to study law and order and do vulnerability mapping, before it goes ahead with the plan to hold the Assembly elections.
“Representatives of the ruling Left Front who met us here pointed out that the earlier team sent by us had not visited some places, and wanted us to cover those areas, too, which they felt were more troubled,” Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said, talking to The Hindu on Wednesday.
The EC had asked them to give a list of such places and they promised to do so in a week. One more visit would be made either by the members of the same team or by a new one, he said.
Vulnerability mapping
The EC would have no hesitation in sending another team for effective and foolproof vulnerability mapping when inputs were received from various sources, as such measures helped in peaceful elections.
Yechury's charge
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury had charged that the EC team, which went to the State last week, visited only those areas that were mentioned by the Opposition Trinamool Congress, and not those places where a large number of people had been evicted by Maoists.
Informed sources said the six-member team, headed by Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh, in its report to the EC, “almost corroborated” the earlier reports of “escalating violence” received from various sources including political parties in West Bengal.
“Absolute maintenance of law and order is most important in order to conduct a free and fair election,” the sources said.
The team, which included senior police officers from various States, had enquired about reports of political clashes and violence in districts, the status of seizure of illegal arms and the strength of the local police force.
