Governor holds SEC responsible for West Bengal violence

KOLKATA: West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose has accused State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha of ‘failure in discharging his duties'.

“When Bengal expects you to do your duty, SEC has failed…You are knee deep in sin and no holy water to dip in,” the governor alleged at a news conference in Kolkata on Thursday. It is highly unusual for a governor to hold a news conference.

Bose held Sinha responsible for failing to control violence in the state ahead of the panchayat elections. Bose said SEC has ‘failed Bengal.’


“We put up a fence to guard crops. But what do we do when the fence eats the crops? … If democracy is dead during panchayat elections, who is the killer?...will the State Election Commissioner please raise his hand? You should know who the killer is,” Bose alleged.

“Mr SEC, Bengal expects to do your duty. Have you done your duty? Do you know what your duty is? I appointed you as SEC, but you disappointed people. You have failed in your duty and you have failed Bengal. You have no time to listen to the people,” Bose alleged.

“I went to the battlefield, where innocence was butchered. People rely on you; people say, ‘please protect our lives’,” the governor said on his visit to violence-hit Bhangar, Canning and Coochbehar. “I heard groans of children whose parents were killed.”