9.4.14

Didi Relents After EC Threat

Mamata Banerjee has blinked and agreed to transfer eight officials as sought by the Election Commission, after the electoral watchdog stared back at her, refusing to climb down on its demand and even threatening to put off Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal if the state government did not heed its orders.
Banerjee, who had defiantly refused to transfer the officials on Monday saying it was an unfair demand, agreed to play ball by Tuesday late evening, bringing the curtains down on a day-long drama with multiple twists and turns that saw her initially take on the EC and escalate the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the two before backing down.
“All the officers who the EC has appointed will take charge of their new positions tomorrow,” the chief minister told reporters at Durgapur late on Tuesday evening. She was returning to Kolkata from Bankura after addressing an election rally there earlier in the day during which she defiantly said she wouldn’t replace the officials whose transfer was sought by the commission. The confrontation between the two started on Monday after the EC ordered the transfer of five superintendents of police, one district magistrate and two additional district magistrates, which Banerjee initially refused. The commission, on its part, shot down the state government’s proposal to reconsider the transfers of officials and ordered the West Bengal’s chief secretary to comply with its directive by 10 am on Wednesday, extending its first deadline of 2.30 pm on Tuesday. “I shall not remove any of my officers as desired by the EC. None of my officers have done anything wrong and I will not remove them from their existing postings,” she said at the Bankura rally on Tuesday afternoon. Later in the day, addressing another rally at Kotshila in Purulia district, she invoked Bengal’s pride to justify her defiance of the EC’s orders. “I know what constitution is and I abide by it. We respect all constitutional bodies, but no one has the right to insult Bengal. I have not given you (EC) the right to insult me when I respect you,” she said.
While Banerjee kept up her defiance, the state government sought to adopt a conciliatory stance towards the EC.

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