West Bengal Assembly Polls Will Be Fair and Violence-Free: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Kolkata — Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner of Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday assured voters that the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal will be conducted in a free, fair and violence-free manner.

Addressing reporters before leaving for Belur Math in Howrah, Kumar said the Commission is committed to ensuring that every voter in the state can exercise their democratic right without fear or intimidation.

“I convey my greetings to all my brothers and sisters in West Bengal. I assure you that the Assembly elections scheduled later this year will be fair and violence-free. Voters will be able to cast their votes without any kind of fear or pressure,” he said.

Belur Math serves as the global headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, both founded by Swami Vivekananda.

After the visit, the CEC, along with other members of the ECI’s full bench, is scheduled to hold an important meeting with senior bureaucrats and police officials of the state government. Among those expected to attend are Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and acting Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey. The meeting is slated to begin around 10 a.m., followed by a press briefing by the Commission.

The Election Commission’s delegation is scheduled to return to New Delhi later in the day.

Meanwhile, the day is also significant politically for the state as the Supreme Court of India is set to hear a key case related to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

The matter will be heard by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Nilay Vipinchandra Anjaria, with proceedings expected to begin around 3 p.m.

The judicial scrutiny process is currently being carried out by 732 judicial officers, including 100 officers each from neighbouring states Jharkhand and Odisha. According to estimates from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, the exercise may continue until the first week of April.

Amid these developments, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that her indefinite sit-in protest at Esplanade East in central Kolkata against the SIR exercise would continue on Tuesday.

However, her nephew and senior party leader Abhishek Banerjee, who serves as the general secretary of the All India Trinamool Congress and a Lok Sabha MP, has urged her to reconsider the protest in view of her age and health.

With inputs from IANS