Kolkata, April 7 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) about the unnecessary police harassment faced by its local party leaders and workers at one of the crucial Assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress’ National Working Committee member and Rajya Sabha member, Derek O’Brien, had written a letter to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, seeking protection of party leaders and workers against unnecessary police harassment at Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, which is the native constituency of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari.

This time LoP Adhikari is contesting simultaneously from Nandigram and Bhabanipur Assembly seats. At Bhabanipur, he is pitted against the sitting Trinamool Congress legislator and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Incidentally, on Monday, LoP Adhikari wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that covert policemen were monitoring his poll campaign in Bhabanipur.

Within 24 hours of the complaint filed by the Leader of the Opposition, Trinamool Congress had approached the ECI with complaints of their party leaders and workers facing unnecessary police harassment in Nandigram.

In the letter to the West Bengal CEO, O’Brien targeted LoP Adhikari and claimed that because of his political influence in the Nandigram constituency, the police had been unnecessarily harassing the local Trinamool Congress leaders and workers in the Assembly constituency, by conducting unnecessary raids and search operations at their residences.

According to O’Brien, such one-sided and biased police action in Nandigram was against the guidelines of the ECI to ensure free and fair polls and was a direct attempt to weaken Trinamool Congress’ organisational network in the Assembly constituency.

The Trinamool Rajya Sabha member had also expressed concerns that if such one-sided approach of the police continues, there would be a high possibility of electoral malpractices, rigging, booth capturing, and intimidation of voters on the polling day in Nandigram.

Nandigram is going for polling in the first phase on April 23. However, Bhabanipur will be going for polls in the second phase on April 29.

–IANS

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