CALCUTTA: Only central paramilitary forces were deployed during the first phase of elections in three Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal on Friday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at two rallies. elections in Murshidabad district while voting was taking place in North Bengal. in.

Addressing voters in Murshidabad constituency, Banerjee said, “Listen to me, Prime Minister and (Union) Home Minister. Right now you are an interim government. How can the state police be kept away and the polls run solely by central forces? We have transferred the Election Commission of India. This is as if a groom also served as a priest in his marriage.”

While Banerjee referred to the elections in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, she specifically focused on the last constituency where outgoing MP and Union Minister of State for the country Nisith Pramanik is contesting again.

Of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the north Bengal region, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snatched seven in 2019. These included the three seats where elections were held on Friday.

A visibly agitated chief minister attacked the BJP and again called the ECI a “BJP commission”.

“How can the home minister decide where and how the central forces will be deployed? There are no police anywhere. May I ask the BJP committee whether the decision to deploy police lies with the state government or not? How can the acting junior home minister order that only central forces be deployed? Isn’t it unethical? We are shocked. We have written to the EC,” Banerjee said at her upcoming rally in Jangipur.

Banerjee also took aim at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various issues ranging from unemployment to the operationalization of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which the TMC has opposed.

“We will not forgive the BJP. They have betrayed the youth of the country, the farmers, the poor, women, members of caste and tribal communities, minorities, Hindus, everyone. What should the leader of a nation be like? He cannot be like Modi. A leader should be like Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Bose, BR Ambedkar or Abul Kalam Azad,” Banerjee said.

Since Murshidabad district has a large number of migrant workers, Banerjee also addressed them.

“We have compiled a database on migrant workers from all districts. We can reach out to them quickly when there is an emergency,” Banerjee said, indirectly referring to the difficulties faced by these people and the administration during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.

Refuting Banerjee’s allegation about deployment of central forces, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The EC is following the rule book. Banerjee is agitated that TMC could not unleash large-scale violence, something Bengal has become accustomed to.”