A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee vowed to give a “ a fitting reply, democratically” to the State Election Commission, a senior Trinamool Congress leader on Sunday said that the poll panel would have to “hide behind a veil” after rural elections in the State.
“After the polls, the Commission will have to hide behind a veil and wear bangles,” State Transport Minister Madan Mitra, who is considered close to Ms. Banerjee, told journalists while campaigning for the rural polls at Datan, in the State’s Paschim Medinipur district.
The Trinamool Congress on Saturday once more made clear its displeasure at the election panel by choosing to stay away from the all-party meeting called by the poll panel. It was followed by a scathing attack on the commission by Ms Banerjee at an election rally at Dakshin Barsarat, in South 24 Parganas.
Ms. Banerjee accused the poll panel of not consulting the State government and holding the polls on its “whims and fancies.” Scheduling the rural polls during Ramzan, she said, was a “ trick” and “done on purpose to prevent members of the Muslim community from voting.
Though the Opposition criticised the attack on the State Election Commission, Trinamool Congress leaders, and even the State’s Advocate General, have continued censuring the panel.
