EC team to visit Bengal again,will probe Left

Two other members ¿ D K Pandey,ADG Jharkhand P K Naidu,Joint Director National Crime Records Bureau ¿ are expected to reach by February 15.

On Monday,a delegation of Left MPs handed over a memorandum to the Election Commission in Delhi,urging that the same team be sent to areas where Trinamool and Maoists have unleashed violence on CPM workers.

The MPs ¿ Sitaram Yechury and Nilotpal Basu of CPM,A Raja and Prabodh Panda of CPI,Abani Roy of RSP and Barun Mukherjee of Forward Bloc ¿ met Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi and handed over a list of the places as well.

The memorandum said: “Unfortunately,the visit of the observers to study law and order exclusively on the basis of allegations by the Opposition has created some doubts in the minds of the people… there are complaints that even after specific efforts were made,the representatives of Left parties could not meet these observers.”

The memorandum mentioned that the Trinamool members and Maoists were responsible violence in the West Midnapore,Bankura and Purulia. The Maoists have also started their activities in Nadia,Murshidabad and Birbhum,it said,and suggested that the EC make necessary arrangements to ensure that the displaced voters in Nandigram,Khejuri and other parts of East Midnapore are allowed to exercise their franchise.

“Quraishi responded positively and it is expected that the EC will take appropriate steps,” said Forward Bloc MP Barun Mukherjee from Delhi. “It is not possible for us to say when the observers would be sent.”

Welcoming the EC move,Mukul Roy,Trinamool MP and Union Minister of State for Shipping,said: “The Trinamool has no objection to the visit and they (the observers) can find out for themselves how the CPM unleashed violence in the the North 24 Parganas,Bankura,Howrah and other places.”

Leader of Opposition Partha Chatterjee,however,took a dig at the ruling party,and said: “What can be more shameful than if after staying in power for 35 years,a party has to ask for the Centre’s assistance as there are certain so-called violence -torn areas in the state? Before submitting such a list,they should have submitted their resignation.”