'Agitated' Mamata Banerjee leaves meeting with CEC in a huff: EC officials

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday left the meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar here on the SIR matter in a huff without listening to the response of the EC top brass on the issues raised by her, EC officials said.

The CEC told the TMC leaders that the "rule of law will prevail" and anybody taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and powers vested in the Election Commission (EC), they said.

Their reaction came as Banerjee lashed out at the EC after emerging from the meeting, accusing the poll panel of acting as a "dalal" (middleman) of the BJP.

 

Wearing black shawls as a mark of "protest", Banerjee along with some "SIR-affected" families and party leaders met Chief Election Commissioner Kumar and fellow ECs here, her party said.

First TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee spoke, followed by Mamata Banerjee, the officials said, adding that the points raised by them were duly noted down by CEC Kumar and Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

"When the CEC started to respond, the TMC leaders interjected on multiple occasions. She was agitated and left the meeting in a huff," an official said.

The CEC explained that the "rule of law will prevail" and anybody taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission.

CEC Kumar told TMC leadership that its MLAs are openly using abusive and threatening language against the Commission and especially against the CEC.

There have been incidents of vandalism of the electoral registration officers by TMC workers and MLAs, Kumar told TMC leaders.

"No pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR work. Honorarium payable to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) should be released in a timely manner without any further delay, the CEC told the delegation," an official said.