EC gives scathing reply to Mamata’s letter regarding transfer of DG

 The Election Commission responded strongly to Mamata's letter objecting to the transfer of the state police DG. On Tuesday (March 16), Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of West Bengal Sudeep Jain wrote to Mamata Banerjee, “Commission maintains the position that they would not like to keep on being put in the dock for alleged proximity to any political entity.”
 

First Published Mar 17, 2021, 1:50 PM IST

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Mamata Banerjee recently launched a scathing attack on the commission over the removal of the state police DG. Even in multiple meetings, she raised the question of whether Union home minister Amit Shah was running the commission.
 

In a reply letter to Mamata on the same day, Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Sudip Jain referred to the report of the Chief Secretary of the state and special observers of the commission on the incident of Mamata being injured in Nandigram.

The chief secretary wrote in the letter, "The coordination required between his security forces and the local police was not seen for a Z-plus class security recipient. There is a need to increase coordination to prevent such incidents in the future.”

The report of the special observer of the commission also mentioned that the presence of the police at the spot was less at that time. Though the speed of Mamata Banerjee's convoy slowed down, the policemen were not seen. 
 

The commission on Sunday (March 14) transferred the district magistrate and superintendent of police of East Midnapore on the basis of observers' reports. Chief Minister's security officer Vivek Sahay was suspended. In the letter, the commission had mentioned the reasons as to why he has been suspended.
 

According to the commission, Vivek Sahay did not abide by the schedule of the Chief Minister. He has repeatedly changed it. One of the recipients of the Z-Plus security opened his seat belt but Sahay did not tell him anything. He did not even stop when one of the guards opened the door of the moving car. Sahay has failed to give the CM overall security. Therefore, he was suspended.