Kolkata, April 22 (Inditop) Charging West Bengal’s opposition parties with trying to intimidate voters, the state’s ruling Left Front (LF) Wednesday said the Election Commission should initiate measures to create a congenial atmosphere for the polls.
“The conditions in the three sub-divisions of the Darjeeling Hills – Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong – are unfavourable for polls. The Election Commission needs to take adequate measures so that the people over there can exercise their voting rights properly,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose told reporters here.
He said of the 14 seats going to the polls in the first phase April 30, six are in the western part, where parties like the Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Maoist rebels were trying to scare people.
Bose said this should stop without further delay.
He said “some elements” were continuously scaring common people in West Midnapore district’s Lalgarh.
Terming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the state’s main opposition Trinamool Congress as “evil forces” trying to divide the state, he added: “The LF criticises such acts.”
The BJP has joined hands with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) for the Lok Sabha polls and BJP veteran leader Jaswant Singh is contesting from Darjeeling. The BJP has said it will sympathetically consider the GJM’s demand for creating a Gorkhaland state by carving out parts of West Bengal.
rounak