You have failed in your duty, West Bengal Governor tells state election commissioner

Directing the election commissioner to visit the field personally, the governor advised the officer to be a 'ground-zero election commissioner'.

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday lashed out at the state election commissioner (SEC) and publicly blamed him for having failed in his duty as a constitutional “appointee”.

In a long piece, ‘Election and Peace’, read out before journalists at Kolkata Raj Bhavan, Governor Bose asked if democracy was dead during the current panchayat elections, and if so, who is the killer? “Will the SEC please raise his hand? You should know the killers,” he stated.

Read | TMC worker killed, several others injured in rural poll violence in Bengal

Highlighting the authoritative powers the election commissioner has, Governor Bose said: “Despite that, why is this gruesome violence? The forces of darkness are on the prowl. Satan has risen from Hell. He is strutting and fretting on the streets of Canning, Bhangor, Basanti, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, and where not…”

The governor asked if “Mr SEC” did his duty, whether he knew his duty, and whether he would do his duty. “You are knee deep in sin against the people – your masters…sin against the Constitution... sin against the judicial courts,” he said.

“I appointed you, you disappointed the people. My constitutional ‘appointee’, you have failed in your duty. You have failed the people. You are responsible for the corpses that fell on the streets,” the governor stated.

Talking about All India Services officials, Governor Bose pointed out that people, when speaking about some of these officials, say that they are “in effect abetting crime and murder by conspiring with silence”. “Can’t you change the errant officers? Shift them for the time being and inquire into the allegations against them,” he stated.

Directing the election commissioner to visit the field personally, the governor told the officer to be a “ground-zero election commissioner”, and know the “field realities”. Referring to the commissioner’s failure to visit the Raj Bhavan earlier, the governor stated, “You have no time to come and meet the messenger of the people and that is your humble Rajyapal.”

Read | Bengal politics long entwined with violence: Analysts

“In the battle of the right against the might, on which side are you standing? Single phase or multi-phase, avoid being double-faced in the face of bloodshed,” Governor Bose said and asked the commissioner to react to his suggestions.

Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, reacting to Governor Bose’s statement, said the SEC is competent enough to respond to any allegation raised by the governor. “As a custodian of the Constitution, the governor has not been seen raising the issue of the Centre not releasing funds to the state for public welfare schemes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sarcastically said that the governor would rather request the Centre to immediately send him to states like Manipur, or Madhya Pradesh, taking into account his intellect, wisdom, as well as understanding of democratic values and Constitution.