The All India Trinamool Congress has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting in a partisan manner by not acting timely on its complaints regarding the campaigns for the elections to six assembly by-elections on November 13.

By doing this, the ECI, neutral as per the law, has allowed the candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—the main opposition party in Bengal and the ruling party of the union government—to get away with incendiary speeches and the party to influence voters into voting for it.

The AITC requested an urgent meeting with the full bench of the ECI on the morning of November 8, three days before the closing of campaign activities. Being urgent issues, the party kept on pursuing the ECI. Receiving no response, a delegation led by the party’s leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, visited the ECI anyway and submitted a letter of complaint.

Two issues were cited in the letter:

• Central Armed Police Force personnel were entering private homes in the regions where elections are to be held and intimidating voters to vote for the BJP. CAPF operating without the presence of state police personnel is against the rules, let along entering homes.

• Union Minister and State BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, during a speech in the election-bound constituency of Taldangra, made derogatory statements against the Bengal Police and insulted the state emblem of India by suggesting that it be replaced with the symbol of ‘chappal’ on the uniforms.

However, no action was taken. Not until today, the day campaigning is scheduled to end, and that too, a meeting to discuss the allegations at 3.30 pm, a mere 90 minutes before the closing time.

This proves, as Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale posted on his handle on X, that the constitutionally neutral ECI is acting at the behest of the ruling party at the centre in an effort to help it win the six seats in Bengal.

“This,” as he wrote, “is a very disturbing trend in the world’s largest democracy. ECI must realize and remember that its mandate is to conduct free and fair elections and not to act as a tool of the BJP.”