Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today called upon State Election Commissioner Saurabh Das “to take pre-emptive and timely call” by seeking additional forces apart from police for the upcoming municipal elections to be “peaceful, orderly and fair”. The requirement of additional forces comes “in view of inputs and apprehensions expressed” and “to avert any such unwholesome scenario as also sabotage of election process by violence, undue governmental impact or otherwise”.

A letter issued by Mr Dhankhar to Mr Das, which came post the meeting held at Raj Bhawan between Mr Dhankhar and Mr Das, has reminded the State Election Commissioner that “earlier background in 2013 and 2018 had several worrisome aspects and polls then were marred by violence and democratic fabric was tainted”.

Mr Dhankhar called upon Mr Das to “evolve a contingent plan to antidote a potentially disturbing scenario and take timely steps to ensure that unwholesome spectacle of past is not revisited”. He reiterated that the SEC is entrusted to “provide a level-playing field to all parties and candidates and ensure free and fair elections where voters exercise their valuable right of vote freely”.

“To sustain constitutional spirit and essence, all steps need to be taken by the SEC to ensure peaceful polls by taking timely precautionary steps to prevent unwholesome scenario and instil confidence in the electorate.” read the letter.

The SEC has been urged “to dispel fears and impressions that it is an extension of the Government and must engage in effective dialogue with all stake holders with an open mind, including on fixing the dates for polls. The communication while indicating that “a constitutional provision has over riding impact and non compromising primacy” goes on to assert that any dilution or eclipse of constitutional mandate “will be a glaring breach of constitutional provision” and “ such an act would be a serious breach of constitution generating serious consequences for the concerned.”

An official of the SEC said that the Governor’s letter will be considered with utmost importance but declined to comment on deployment of additional forces during the polls. It may be recalled here that during the meeting, Mr Dhankhar had urged Mr Das to take necessary steps to ensure that the upcoming municipal polls are not violence-ridden and not a repetition of the scenario that was noticed in the panchayat elections held in May 2018. His comment had drawn strong criticism from senior Trinamul Congress leaders who said that Mr Dhankhar had not witnessed anything himself.