- Chief Election Commissioner told Trinamool Congress delegation to get lost during a meeting
- Trinamool raised concerns over official reshuffle after model code of conduct began
- Election Commission sources said Derek O'Brien shouted and disrupted the meeting
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told the Trinamool Congress delegation to "get lost" during a meeting on the upcoming West Bengal polls, senior party leader Derek O'Brien said today. "I want to tell you what the Chief Election Commissioner told us within seven minutes of the meeting. 'Get lost' -- this is what the Chief Election Commissioner told the Trinamool Congress delegation. So we left. We are the second largest opposition party in Parliament," he told the media.
He said the Trinamool delegation went to meet the Chief Election Commissioner with nine letters from the party chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which have not been replied to. The delegation, he said, also raised the high-profile reshuffle of top officials and cops after the model code of conduct came into force.
"We told him you are transferring these officials, how do you want to conduct a free and fair election? And then, he said, 'get lost'," the Trinamool's Leader in Rajya Sabha said, adding, "What I saw today is a shame." He also dared the election body to release audio or video of the meeting.
O'Brien said one member of their delegation congratulated the Chief Election Commissioner for being the "only Chief Election Commissioner in the history of India to have notices in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to be removed". He said opposition parties will be holding a press conference at the Constitution Club this afternoon.
Sources in the Election Commission have said O'Brien shouted at the Chief Election Commissioner and asked him not to speak. "CEC requested Mr Derek O'Brien to maintain the decorum of the commission room. Shouting and indecent behaviour is not appropriate," the source said.
The Election Commission later said in a post on X that it had given an "ultimatum" to Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in Bengal. "ECI's Straight-talk to Trinamool Congress. This time, the Elections in West Bengal would surely be: Fear-free, violence-free, intimidation-free, inducement-free and without any raid, booth jamming and source jamming."
O'Brien, however, said no such conversation happened. "You are a criminal. You prove it," he said, targeting the Chief Election Commissioner. He also referred to Gyanesh Kumar as "Vanish Kumar".
Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose said on X that the Election Commission's social media post is a "blatant lie". "None of this was said to the four member @AITCofficial delegation... Two lines were said to us by the Chief Election Commissioner Vanish Kumar. The first line: where is your authorised signatory? And the second most SHAMEFUL two words: "GET LOST."
Trinamool MPs Saket Gokhale and Menaka Guruswamy were also part of the delegation. "This is a LIE. I was personally present at the meeting. NOTHING like this was said. All that CEC Gyanesh Kumar said to us was "GET LOST". We challenge the ECI to release a transcript of the meeting. Else we will do it," Gokhale said on X.
Elections in Bengal are due on April 23 and April 29. Counting of votes will be held on May 4.
