Election Commission Appoints Police Observers Amid Controversy Over Political Ties

The Election Commission has appointed 84 police observers in the state in the run-up to the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. The appointment has sparked a political controversy. The police observer at four centres, especially in Malda district, is the husband of a BJP leader from Bihar. The neutrality of the police observer has been questioned by the ruling Trinamool Congress. The TMC has claimed that the police observer in question is a BJP leader from Bihar. The wife of the concerned police observer, Jayanta Kanta, is a BJP leader from Bihar. In support of this allegation, a few photographs were released at a press conference at Trinamool Bhawan by state minister Bratya Basu and Barrackpore MP Partha Bhowmik. One of the photographs released shows a woman with Jayanta, who the TMC claims is his wife. Another shows the woman with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chowdhury on a BJP stage. The Daily Statesman, however, has not verified these photographs. State minister Bratya Basu and Barrackpore MP Partha Bhowmik have questioned how her husband, a BJP leader, will work impartially at the four centres in Malda, Jayanta Modhapur, Baishnabari, Maniknagar, and Sujata Bose