Anubrata Mandal dares EC vigil, keeps his watchers at bay

KOLKATA: “No one can put me under 247 surveillance.“ That was Anubrata Mandal, the Trinamool Congress strongman in Birbhum district who was put under the scanner by the country's supreme election authority for the polls on Sunday. And true to his claim, Mandal held several closed-door meetings since Saturday which remained out of bounds for the poll panel.

The Election Commission decision followed colmplaints from all opposition parties that elections in Birbhum would not be free and fair as Mandal went on issuing threats and intimidation to the electors and rival political outfits.

Mandal didn't stop at claiming that no one had the authority to put him under surveillance. Mandal reached Bhagabat Nimno Buniyadi Vidyalaya in Bolpur to cast his vote riding pillion on a motorbike and followed by scores of supporters.His white kurta flaunted the Trinamool party symbol on it.

After the Opposition took up the matter with the Election Commission, Mandal claimed that the it was an inadvertent action and had the presiding officer told him, he would have removed the badge.

A Birbhum CPM leader said that the “adamant Trinamool leader refused to say sorry“. The EC on Sunday evening filed an FIR against Mandal for violation of election guidelines by displaying the party symbol inside the booth, according to sources.

Trinamool national spokesperson Derek O'Brien jumped to back Mandal. claiming that Narendra Modi had also showed the BJP symbol while casting his vote. “This happened two years back and the EC did not take any action against him. Why the poll panel is so active in case of Mandal now?“ he asked.

On Saturday, he held closed-door meetings at Nanoor, Labhpur, Sainthia and Mayureswar keeping the central force jawans and deputy magistrate outside.At his Nichupatti residence in Bolpur too the jawans and the deputy magistrate had virtually no option but to wait in front of the party office.

Trinamool activists had rolled down the shutters after Mandal reached the spot. Even the video photographer, engaged by the EC, could not take photographs of Mandal and his men holding meetings inside the party offices.

“The poll panel is keeping a watch on Mandal and all his movements have been monitored. If necessary, the EC might take up Mandal's case again,“ a senior official of the chief electoral office (CEO) in Kolkata told ET on Sunday.

The Opposition CPM was furious.“EC's act of imposing a surveillance on Mandal is nothing but a farce. He is allowed to hold closed-door meetings with his activists. His movement on Saturday was as usual as of any normal day. Central force jawans and video photographers engaged by the poll panel to monitor his movement have no clue about what was going on inside. We feel the entire surveillance is nothing but an eye wash,“ a senior Birbhum CPIM leader told ET.