Trinamul wants EC officer’s exit from Bengal poll scene -Sudeep Jain's impartiality questioned

Sudeep Jain:File picture

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya, Pheroze L. Vincent   |   TT   |   Calcutta, New Delhi   |   05.03.21:  The Trinamul Congress on Thursday questioned the impartiality of deputy election commissioner Sudeep Jain and asked the Election Commission to divest him of the responsibility to handle the Bengal Assembly polls.

In a letter to the commission, Trinamul’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien cited the 1994-batch IAS officer’s activities in Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and accused him of bias against Mamata Banerjee’s party.

“… we have serious doubt that Shri Sudeep Jain would be impartial, fair and his approach towards all parties would be equal for the reason that all his actions were favourable to and/or are tilted towards BJP and/or are undue, illegal and/or unconstitutional. We have no confidence in Shri Sudeep Jain,” wrote O’Brien in the missive, on behalf of his party.

The 51-year-old IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been the deputy election commissioner since 2015 and had played a prominent role in the 2016 Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Bengal.

Trinamul cited two actions of Jain to allege he had bias for the BJP. One was his “inaction/illegal” action during the vandalism of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar’s bust in Calcutta on May 14, 2019. The vandalism occurred when then BJP national president Amit Shah was holding a road show. The second was an “illegality” in the introduction of a concept of quick response teams comprising state and central police personnel and led by central officers.

“In the aftermath of the same (the vandalism of the Vidyasagar bust), Shri Sudeep Jain furnished an erroneous and biased report based on which the Election Commission of India in an unprecedented manner barred election campaigning two days prior to the polling date. Only one political party, Bharatiya Janata Party, was allowed to complete its election campaigning for that day before such a bar was announced,” read the Trinamul letter.

Since the vandalism of the polymath’s bust, Mamata

has been relentless in her attacks on the saffron camp, with a “BJP versus Bengal

and Bengali” spin. Numerous gaffes by the BJP have helped the chief minister reinforce the perception.

“No explanation was sought, no show-cause was issued, no action was taken by the Election Commission of India against the perpetrators, i.e., Shri Amit Shah or his entourage,” said Trinamul’s letter. “Shri Jain’s actions were completely biased, partisan, reeked of partiality and tainted.”

Trying to substantiate the other charge against Jain, Trinamul said allowing an official of central forces to lead a quick response team was “completely beyond the realm of law”.

“… the said decision as introduced and/or communicated by Shri Sudeep Jain was bad in law. Subsequently, the Election Commission of India realised the wrong and the decision for QRT to be led by an officer of the CAPF was withdrawn,” read the letter.

“....In light of the above we call upon you to withdraw Shri Sudeep jain as in-charge on behalf of Election Commission of India for West Bengal Assembly elections, 2021,” concludes the letter.

Calls and text messages to the top brass of the commission seeking a reaction to the allegations against Jain met with no formal response till late on Thursday.

A source in the Nirvachan Sadan said the complaint against Jain had been submitted to Bengal chief electoral officer Aariz Aftab and was yet to reach the commission. He added that the commission was yet to decide on Trinamul’s other complaints regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pictures at petrol pumps and on Covid-19 vaccines.

The BJP has responded with derision to the Trinamul demand and allegations.

“Knowing that it is about to lose, unable to keep up politically or electorally, Trinamul is stooping to such tactics. The people are not taking this seriously. None of this would matter anyway,” said the BJP’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, a Trinamul turncoat.

 The commission-appointed special observer Ajay Nayak and special police observer Vivek Dube are scheduled to arrive in Bengal on Friday. Both had handled similar responsibilities for the 2019 general election in the state.

When the decision of the commission to again send Dube, a retired IPS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre of the 1981-batch, had been announced, the Trinamul chief expressed serious reservations.

“I would humbly request the ECI not to look at Bengal through the eyes of the BJP. That same man is being deputed as an observer. In 2019, Vivek Dube was the observer here, we know what he had done…. We know all the games, all the tricks, and the drama,” Mamata had said on February 26.