Source: indiatoday.in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday demanded the \nsetting up of a collegium on the lines of the Supreme Court to appoint \nelection commissioners, asserting that the three nominated members of \nthe poll panel should not be given the mandate to hold elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trinamool\n Congress chief Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Election Commission for \nwhat she alleged was its partisan approach during the recently concluded\n 2019 Lok Sabha elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In \nthe Supreme Court, there is a collegium to decide (on the appointment of\n judges). In the Election Commission, too, there should be a collegium \nto decide on the appointment of elections commissioners,” Mamata \nBanerjee said. “Three nominated members can’t have the mandate to \nconduct the polls.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TMC had hit out at the commission several \ntimes during the 2019 general election, accusing it of being under the \ninfluence of the Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
West Bengal chief minister Mamata \nBanerjee appealed to the Opposition to together demand the constitution \nof a fact-finding committee to unravel the alleged tampering of \nelectronic voting machines (EVMs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There are numerous evidences \nof EVM programming and election malpractices. We think there should be a\n fact-finding committee to unravel the tampering of EVMs, hawala \ntransactions,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Other Opposition parties should also \ndemand it. I will speak to the Congress regarding this demand,” Mamata \nBanerjee said after a party meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justifying her decision to \nnot attend the Niti Aayog meeting, Mamata Banerjee said it was “simply \nuseless” to attend the meet as she claimed that the agenda of the \nmeeting was being set by the Centre without consulting the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They\n only set the agenda without consulting us. And the agenda they set are \ncompletely unimportant in terms of state-related matters. We are also \nnot allowed to speak,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting on reports about the \nBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) planning to conduct a delimitation exercise\n in Jammu and Kashmir, Mamata Banerjee wondered how the Centre could \nplan to conduct such an exercise without a consultation with all the \nstakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Who has given the BJP the right to change the \ndemography? How can they conduct a delimitation exercise without proper \nconsultation with all the stakeholders, such as National Conference \nleaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, and PDP leader Mehoboba \nMufti?” she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mamata Banerjee said the Centre should consult with everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\n Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was given a detailed \npresentation on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP has \nbeen pushing for carrying out a delimitation exercise for getting more \nseats for Jammu region in the assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Mamata Banerjee\n also held a meeting of the party’s Hooghly district unit, where it \nsuffered a setback as it lost the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat to the BJP and \njust managed to scrape through in Arambagh by a margin of 1,000 votes. \nIn several assembly seats of the district, the BJP has taken a lead over\n TMC in the general election.<\/p>\n