Pro-Trinamool intellectuals slam EC for show-causing Mamata

A section of intellectuals, perceived to be pro-Trinamool Congress, on Saturday objected to the Election Commission's decision to issue a show-cause notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and accused the panel of not acting impartially.

"The Election Commission has been acting partially. While the ruling party has been subjected to unduly harsh treatment by it, the attitude towards others parties has been unnecessarily soft and accommodating.

"This is disrupting fair and democratic political process in the state," read a memorandum to the EC by the delegation comprising Indologist Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri and economist Abhirup Sarkar among others.

Expressing unhappiness over the EC shifting out Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on "fake charges" and "unverified allegations", they also termed as "unwarranted" the panel's Thursday's move to show-cause Banerjee over her announcement of making "Asansol a district and other utterances".

"It is on record that the chief minister had announced the intention to create a separate Asansol district in December 2015 which was way before the polls were declared. The EC should have done proper homework before taking such a drastic and unwarranted step," they said.

They also charged the poll panel with not paying heed to repeated requests of holding the polls before summer.