Kolkata, March 19 (IANS) Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Thursday alleged that the voters lists in West Bengal were flawed and that a large number of people had received more than one Electoral Photo Identity Card.
'There are numerous mistakes in the state voters lists. We've pointed that out very carefully and informed the Chief Election Commissioner about the issue. We want immediate rectification in the lists,' Banerjee said at a press conference here after meeting the full bench of the commission.
'I've already informed the EC (Election Commission) team about various issues that we've faced here before the elections, especially regarding the voters' lists and the photo identity cards,' she said.
'We want the EC to take stock of the situation by deploying central paramilitary forces at the booth level. I think the EC has taken up our issues very seriously and have assured us that it will look into them.'
Banerjee Thursday met the poll panel team led by Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami at Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi's residence here.
'We have told the Election Commission not to use the state machinery for election duty. In 32 years of the Left regime, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres have successfully turned the police force into their private security guards,' the Trinamool supremo said.
She added that the CPI-M was trying to foment tension in various parts of the state to thwart peace before the polls.
Earlier, a team of state Congress leaders, headed by its legislative party chief Manas Bhuniya, demanded that the EC deploy paramilitary forces at all polling booths in the state during the April-May general elections.
The Lok Sabha elections are slated in West Bengal April 30, May 7 and May 13.
The CPI-M also submitted a 13-point list of demands to the poll panel.
The party requested the commission to look into various issues related to the Election Photo Identity Card, voters' lists, campaign guidelines, disruption of law and order situation, and the election code of conduct during poll canvassing.
CPI-M central committee member Madan Ghosh told a press conference that his party will support and cooperate with the poll panel on the guidelines and the model code of conduct.
'We wanted to bring certain things to the EC's notice that there are number of cases of violence of guidelines by the major political parties belonging to the opposition in our state,' Ghosh said.
'We hope the commission will definitely look into the issue,' he added.
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