'Why have an election': Kapil Sibal slams EC
New Delhi (PTI): Former law minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission, accusing it of carrying out an "experiment in disenfranchisement" in West Bengal and asked "why have an election".
The Rajya Sabha MP also took a swipe at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying he must be awarded with a Padma Bhushan.
In a post on X, Sibal said, "Election Commission: (West Bengal Election). Experiment in disenfranchisement. The CEC must be awarded with a Padam Bhushan!"
"My question: Why have an election?" Sibal said.
West Bengal is voting in the first phase on Thursday amid an increasingly polarised battle in which issues such as corruption and jobs have ceded space to identity, citizenship and the controversy over deleted names from electoral rolls.
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Sibal on Wednesday had accused Kumar of working in cahoots with the BJP to make the party win the West Bengal elections, saying he is a "national shame" and it is his "vocation" to make sure that the BJP emerges victorious.
The Independent Rajya Sabha MP had also come down heavily on the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission (EC) over the massive deployment of security personnel for the Bengal polls.
Questioning the use of the logical discrepancy argument for "disenfranchising" people in Bengal, Sibal said, "They did not use this in Maharashtra and Haryana but are using it in West Bengal. "
"They are using the logical discrepancy argument to disenfranchise voters, meaning if there is a less than 15-year gap between the voter and his/her father, his/her name is deleted, if there is more than 50 years difference, the name is deleted And all this is done through AI," Sibal had said at a press conference here.
It is the chief election commissioner who is the logical discrepancy in this country, Sibal said, adding that nothing that the top poll official says is logical.
"His discrepancy is stamped all over West Bengal. It is a shame that we have an election commissioner of this nature. It is an absolute national shame. It is also a national shame that nobody is doing anything about it," Sibal said.
The opening round of the two-phase West Bengal election covers 152 of the state's 294 seats, including all 54 in north Bengal's eight districts and several in Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly.
The second phase of elections would take place on April 29 and the results would be declared on May 4.
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4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
