TMC delegation meets EC officials over ‘misuse’ of central agencies

Kolkata, April 8 (IANS) A 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress met Election Commission officials in New Delhi on Monday to register a complaint against the alleged “misuse of central agencies in West Bengal.Speaking to the media persons on Monday morning before leaving for New Delhi, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member and a member of the delegation, Dola Sen said that rampant “misuse of central agencies in West Bengal is against the principle of a level-playing field for all political parties in any election.“The Union government is unethically unleashing central agencies like ED, CBI and NIA in West Bengal at a time when the model code of conduct is in place. Besides West Bengal, the Union government is adopting this policy in some other states. Many of our workers are being unnecessarily arrested by the NIA, Sen alleged.Trinamool Congress’ move comes in the wake of the attack on the NIA sleuths on Saturday morning at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore district while they were returning after arresting two local ruling party leaders in connection with a blast there in December 2022 killing three persons.Trinamool Congress leadership including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has, however, accused the NIA sleuths of provoking the local people by harassing women there in odd hours. A counter-FIR has also been filed against the NIA sleuths accusing them of molestation.Dola Sen said that Trinamool Congress always believes in the level playing field. “It is the responsibility of the ECI to ensure the level-playing field for all. We have intimated this to the Commission before also and we will be doing it again today, Sen said.Besides Sen, the 10-member delegation includes four other sitting Rajya Sabha members namely Derek O’Brien, Nadimul Haque, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose. The remaining five delegation members will be former party parliamentarians.--IANSsrc/uk

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