Mamata demands probe into 'rigging' of polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 31. The Trinamool Congress leader, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, today urged the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the `malevolent manner' in which the Assembly elections were held in West Bengal and charged the CPI(M) with `rigging' the polls in collusion with the Election Commission.

Ms. Banerjee, who led a delegation of seven Trinamool MPs and 13 MLAs to the President, told correspondents after the meeting that the Assembly polls in the State made a `mockery' of democracy. She also presented a memorandum.

The Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha, Mr. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, who accompanied the delegation said the party would continue to highlight the issue and raise it in Parliament. He said regretfully even the Election Commission did not take congnisance of the complaints.

Ms. Banerjee, on her first visit to Delhi after the Assembly polls, said she would meet the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Sonia Gandhi and apprise them of the issue.

In the memorandum, Ms Banerjee said she was concerned not because her party was unable to form the government but because the people of the State were not allowed to exercise their democratic choice freely. ``This is not only a complaint but a record of my deepest anguish and the gravest concern for democratic rights without which we are heading towards dark days of fascism.'' The memorandum gives some instances of alleged collusion and rigging.

Earlier, after a meeting with party MPs, Ms. Banerjee said her party would take a decision on the Trinamool's relations with the National Democratic Alliance. She sidestepped questions on whether the Trinamool was part of the NDA or had quit the alliance.

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Section  : National
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