EC showcauses Asansol mayor

The Election Commission has showcaused the mayor of Asansol, Jitendra Tiwari of Trinamool Congress for offering additional work to councillors who give the party's candidate lead in their respective wards in the coming Lok Sabha elections, deputy Chief Election Officer Sanjay Basu said here Wednesday.

The EC has issued a showcause to Tiwari through the district election officer of West Burdwan, Basu told newspersons here.

The EC has also showcaused TMC's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal through the DEO of the district, he said.

Singh, who is also an MLA, had said in a meeting of councillors in Asansol that if a local body representative is able to give a lead of more than 5,000 votes in his or her ward to the TMC aspirant, additional development work worth Rs one crore will be given to them.

Singh had also said that if a councillor manages to give a lead of 3,000 votes, then the person will get contracts worth Rs 50 lakh and in case of a lead of 2,000 or 1,000 votes, the local representative would be given additional work in his her ward of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively.

In case a councillor failed to ensure a lead of votes, he or she should resign from the post.

TMC has fielded Munmum Sen, the Bankura MP, as its candidate in Asansol seat.

BJP had filed complaints against four TMC leaders before the EC here.

Apart from Tiwari and Mandal, the saffron party complained against West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Rabindranath Ghosh alleging that they made unsavoury remarks over different issues, including on the activities of the central forces in the state for the coming elections.

The TMC had also complained before the EC that the central forces were going beyond their mandate during interactions with the people.

The deputy CEO said that a Trinamool Congress candidate and an independent candidate filed nominations for Alipurduar and Coochbehar constituencies respectively for the first phase of elections on Wednesday.

For the second phase, a Trinamool Congress candidate filed nomination for Jalpaiguri and a BSP candidate filed papers for the Darjeeling seat, he added.