SC Verdict on Bengal Rural Polls: Oppn Worry over Effective Use of Central Forces

The Supreme Court upholding the Calcutta High Court order directing deployment of central armed forces in West Bengal for the forthcoming panchayat polls has left the Opposition forces in the state a bit worried.

Their main concern is how effectively will the central forces be utilised by the West Bengal State Election Commission, which as per them behaves like an extended arm of the state government.

Trinamool Congress leaders, however, do not want to take the development seriously as they feel the presence of the central forces will not have any impact on the results in the rural civic body polls.

According to veteran Trinamool Congress leader and three-time party Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy, they are not worried over the Supreme Court order since central armed forces deployment will not change the results of the polls.

"We did oppose the deployment of central armed forces since it was an unnecessary exercise. But ultimately whether the central forces will be there or not will not have any impact on the results. Ultimately, the people of West Bengal, who continue to have tremendous confidence in Trinamool Congress and West Bengal, will participate in the polling process," Roy said.

State Congress president in West Bengal and veteran party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said even after the favourable verdict from the apex court on Tuesday they cannot be sure of peaceful polls. "The central forces will be under the control of the state election commission now, which is acting like an extended arm of the state government. So we have every doubt that the central forces will be kept ineffective on the polling day," he said.

Similar apprehension on ineffective utilisation of the central forces was expressed by the leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari. However, he is confident that if the ruling party tries to unleash violence by keeping the central armed forces ineffective on the polling day, there would be stubborn resistance to that violence as it was done during the nomination phase.