“Why will the state forces of Bengal be deprived?”: Mamata Banerjee alleges that Bengal Govt. Employees are being Deprived of their Right to Vote via Postal Ballot

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Election Commission of India, accusing it of depriving state police, deployed elsewhere for election duties, of their right to cast votes via postal ballot. Addressing a rally in Bengal's Purba Burdwan, the Trinamool Congress Supremo alleged that the ECI is acting on the directives of the BJP. "Is this the way they want to make sure that the BJP wins?" Banerjee questioned.

“You (BJP) are fighting the elections at the mercy of the Election Commission; you are not even allowing postal ballots. Why will the central forces posted elsewhere for election duty are entitled to cast their votes via postal ballot, and why not the state government employees, especially the police force, why will they not be given the right to cast their votes via postal ballot? I want to know, especially from the Election Commission. Is this the way they want to ensure that BJP wins?” said Mamata Banerjee.

The Trinamool Congress Supremo criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that the saffron party has formed the Election Commission with only their yes men. “The BJP has formed the Election Commission with three of their yes men. Those three men in no way are connected to the country, the people or to the democracy,” thundered the West Bengal Chief Minister.

“It has been over the month since the commencement of the election. How will they understand the perils of conducting elections in this heat seated inside air conditioned rooms? They are doing whatever the BJP is teaching them. This is shameful, this is not the country that we knew of,” said Mamata Banerjee, questioning the need for conducting the general elections in seven phases during the summer months.

The panel tasked with the appointment of the Election Commission comprises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Union Minister appointed on the recommendation of the PM, and the leader of the Opposition of the Lok Sabha. The Opposition had questioned the basis of such a panel and questioned the legality of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, after the Chief Justice of India was dropped from it and a Union Minister was put up in that place. Officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were appointed as election commissioners by a panel comprising of PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after vacancies in the EC emerged after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel.