TMC writes to ECI complaining about CBI, NSG ops at Sandeshkhali during second phase of polls

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) opposing the CBI and National Security Guard (NSG) raids at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas District on Friday and expressed apprehensions that the central agencies might have ‘planted’ weapons at the search site to ‘defame it’ when the second phase of Lok Sabha polls were underway.

In a significant operation at Sandeshkhali on Friday afternoon, the CBI recovered a huge cache of foreign and Indian-make firearms, explosives and crude bombs from the residence of a relative of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali.

Later, the Commandos of the NSG, too, joined the CBI officials in that search operation.

In its complaint to the ECI, a copy of which is available with IANS, the Trinamool Congress has accused the CBI of “carrying out an unscrupulous raid at an empty location in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal, on poll day, to tarnish the image of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) during the ensuing Lok Sabha Elections, 2024.”

It has also claimed that while polling for three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal was underway on Friday afternoon, the CBI officials conducted raids at vacant places in Sandeshkhali.

In the complaint, the ruling party has also raised questions about involving the NSG commandos in the operations.

As per the ruling party’s complaint, despite repeated requests seeking the ECI’s intervention on the hyper-activity of the central agencies during the polling period, no action or directive has been issued on this count.

“Previously, we have brought to your attention the need for urgent guidelines/framework so that central investigating agencies cannot throttle the campaign efforts of various political parties, including AITC, who are opposed to the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

“However, despite repeated representations, your office has turned a blind eye, while central probe agencies continue to wreak havoc across the nation, especially during the election period,” the communique to the ECI read.

In the letter to the commission, the Trinamool Congress has also accused the BJP’s central leadership of regularly targeting the Trinamool Congress leadership.

“It is reiterated that in the absence of any representative of the state government, the purported recovery of arms and ammunition is possibly a ploy employed by the BJP in conspiracy with the CBI and the NSG to plant such weapons at the site.

“It would not be out of place to revisit that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has time and again held that free and fair elections form an important concomitant of democracy.

“In the present situation, the BJP has compromised the sanctity of the ensuing elections by spreading a sense of terror among the electorate, thereby attempting to gain an undue advantage in the ensuing elections,” read the communique to ECI.