Central forces made to sit idle: observers

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">KOLKATA: If CPM needed another blow after Sunday’s EC censure, it was dealt on Monday when the observers told the poll panel that central paramilitary forces were not given a free hand in the city.<br /><br />Instead, it was the Kolkata police that took charge. The bottomline: this led to largescale rigging in the city.<br /><br />According to senior special services bureau officials, their brief was not to do anything when they had been sent to the city to check rigging and other malpractices.<br /><br />The observers were told not to worry about law and order in Kolkata during polls as the city was directly under the supervision of DIG, chief secretary, home secretary, commissioner of police.“We thought there would be no problem in Kolkata but the situation was just the reverse,� said an observer.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>