Poll boss hounded out, govt strains credulity by picking serving officer

Devadeep Purohit in Thimphu and Meghdeep Bhattacharyya in Calcutta, TT, Oct. 6: "Insulted" and arm-twisted, S.R. Upadhaya today resigned as state election commissioner, sending tremors beyond the borders to Bhutan from where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is parachuting a serving officer to fill the vacuum for now.

However, the jury was out tonight on whether such an appointment would pass judicial muster. The state election commission is supposed to be headed by a person with no incumbent ties to the government and so far, only retired officials have held the post.

The replacement shortlisted by the government is Alapan Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer serving as Bengal transport secretary and now with Mamata in Thimphu. Bandyopadhyay has several years of service left, a feature that makes serving officials beholden to the government and carries the potential of undermining the independence of the state election commission.

The poll panel chief is empowered to recommend action against bureaucrats and politicians but if the person knows that he will have to report back to the same establishment after the election assignment is over, how can he or she act independently, asked a veteran official.

Hectic parleys took place between Raj Bhavan, Nabanna and the Taj Tashi hotel in Thimphu as a tense Mamata tried to defuse the situation.

Upadhaya, believed to have been intimidated by the ruling establishment into making a U-turn on the poll process in three corporations where fraud and violence were reported, submitted his resignation to governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.

Sources close to Upadhaya, who did not go to office today, said he took the decision in the face of "unprecedented humiliation" at the hands of some Trinamul leaders.

"On his way out of office last night, he was fighting back tears. He said that within a few hours, he had to take more insult than in his entire career. He said he was not going to carry on bearing the mantle of shame.... We knew then that he was going to do something drastic," an aide said.

Late tonight, 24 Ghanta, a news channel, quoted Upadhaya as saying: "I have quit. I have informed the governor. No political party should exert pressure on any constitutional post." Asked if such pressure was exerted on him, he said: "I am not going to say anything on that subject."

But a source said: "He faced humiliation from Trinamul leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Sovan Chatterjee all day yesterday. The last nail in the coffin was a derogatory phone call from somebody very senior."

Asked, Partha Chatterjee said: "The BJP or the CPM can lay a siege and we can't? There was no pressure at all from us. Nor any misbehaviour."

Other sources said Upadhaya had cited "personal" reasons for his resignation. "Had he mentioned something else, it would have been more embarrassing for the ruling establishment. He was very graceful in his exit," said a source.

One aide said Upadhaya tonight left his quarters on the Raj Bhavan premises for his residence in Chandernagore, Hooghly.

In response to a question, the governor had said in the evening: "The state election commissioner gave his resignation letter at 3.45pm. I refused. He pressed for it. I have passed it on to the government...."

Upadhaya

Sources said the governor's secretariat had asked the chief minister's office what was to be done with the resignation. Only after clearance from the chief minister did the governor accept it.

Soon after - following tea with Indian ambassador Gautam Bambawale in Thimphu - Mamata went up to her hotel room with chief secretary Sanjay Mitra and principal secretary to the chief minister's office, Gautam Sanyal.

"It was found out that there is a provision for a senior bureaucrat in service to be given interim powers of the commissioner to finish an ongoing poll process. That's when the chief minister called for Alapan," an official claimed.

Half an hour later, Sanyal came down to summon Bandyopadhyay. After Bandyopadhyay agreed, Mamata told home secretary Basudeb Banerjee to rush to Raj Bhavan for the governor's signature sanctioning the appointment.

"Alapan is 54 and is supposed to retire in 2021. He could end his career as the chief secretary, so he is not going to take early retirement from the service for assuming charge as a full-time commissioner," said a senior bureaucrat. "But he will, for the time being, helm the commission."

The government, he said, would soon look for a full-time successor to Bandyopadhyay from among retired bureaucrats.

The transport secretary, who is to reach Calcutta around 11am tomorrow and take charge sometime in the afternoon, declined comment.

Sources said Bandyopadhyay would take a "fresh look" at Upadhaya's decisions on repolling, which the latter was supposed to announce today. Yesterday, Upadhaya had mentioned the possibility of repolls in 8-10 Salt Lake booths, 2-3 Bally booths and 3-4 booths in Asansol.

"The repolls on Thursday are now unlikely. The counting for the three civic bodies, however, could take place on Friday," said a source.

A government source said the ruling establishment held the governor - and not Upadhaya, personally - responsible for the "unfortunate fiasco". According to him, the chief minister believes Upadhaya was forced to defer counting and take certain decisions as he was "put up to it".

But, asked about yesterday's criticism by Trinamul, the governor said: "Should I react to all these observations? Should I? The Raj Bhavan has its dignity and prestige. I think I should not comment on these useless statements. Rather, baseless."

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee questioned the government's move to appoint Bandyopadhyay.

"It is difficult to believe what the government has done. I think it's unconstitutional. There may not be an explicit bar on such an appointment, but I do not think it's ethical to have someone from the administration handle a constitutional post," said Chatterjee.

Retired Supreme Court judge and former state rights panel chairperson Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly said the government should "hang its head in shame". "Independence from the state government is imperative and sacrosanct for such a constitutional post,"said Justice Ganguly.

Additional reporting by Chandreyee Ghose.