Mukul Roy hits out at state election commissioner again

KOLKATA: Unfazed with West Bengal governor M K Narayanan's censure over his remarks against the state election commissioner Mira Pandey, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Mukul Roy hit out at the commissioner again on Wednesday, sparking a controversy at political circles.
"Every constitutional body has its own jurisdiction. In this case, the State Election Commission is crossing its limits to the extent of jeopardizing the political convention in the state," Roy said while speaking to the media in North Bengal.Stretching himself further, Roy smelt a rat in the Left Front government's move extending the tenure of the state election commissioner in 2010 from three to six years. "I fear that the preceding government did it to fulfil the interests of the ruling party then," Roy said.
Trinamool leaders are perhaps losing sight of the role of the governor M K Narayanan in the panchayat polls. The governor is not exactly an arbitrator but has been entrusted to ensure that the SEC gets the "staff" for conducting the polls. The staff here can also be extended to the central paramilitary forces which the SEC wants to man the Bengal's civic polls.
In the SEC-state logjam, the governor's only public comment came when Roy accused the state election commissioner Mira Pandey of political bias. Roy's accusations at the constitutional post didn't go down well with the governor. Though it is believed that the governor has been updated by the SEC on its communication with the state panchayat department, he has till now refrained from any public statements on it.
Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, however, said the government isn't shifting from its stand. Asked whether the state will go ahead with the panchayat poll notification, Mukherjee said: "We will reply to the SEC's letter on panchayat polls. We want free and fair polls."
The minister reiterated on Wednesday that the government will remain within its legal ambits and so will the SEC. He added, "If you ask me whether we will stick to our two-phase poll proposal or accede to the SEC's request of three-phased poll, I won't will not be able to comment. This is the prerogative of the chief minister and while we have our response ready, it will only be sent to the SEC after her concurrence."
Some SEC officers believe the state election commissioner's strength in this stalemate is derived from Article 243 K of the Constitution of India. While section 2 of this deals with the terms of appointment and the removal of the state election commissioner, it is section 3 which says, "The governor of a state shall, when so requested by the state election commission, make available to the state election commission such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the state election commission ..."
Mukherjee, however, reiterated that law and order is a state subject. "
The responsibility of law and order is vested with the state.
We have already informed the SEC that we will arrange for at least one armed police personnel to man the 59,000-odd poll booths. For this we are even ready to bring in armed police from other states. And on the question of central forces, how can we even say about it? Even if we ask, it remains the Centre's prerogative. There have been no panchayat elections in West Bengal since 1978, in which central forces have been deployed."
But the government's initial belligerence appears to have lost its steam somewhat with legal counsels holding the SEC in good stead in this stand-off. Professor Biswanath Chakraborty cited a latest order delivered on April 16, 2012, by a bench comprising of the present Chief Justice of India Altamash Kabir pertaining to UP rural polls, which appeared to reaffirm the October, 2006 constitutional bench order in the Kishan Singh Tomar versus the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad case. "In this order, the same spirit is reflected when the bench directs that if the SEC feels it is not getting the desired cooperation from the state government to conduct the polls, it can move HC at the first instance and then file a writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court."