Abhishek Banerjee asks ECI to livestream meeting with Trinamool delegation on Nov 28

Kolkata, Nov 25 (IANS) Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee, on Tuesday, challenged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make the live broadcast of the scheduled meeting of the top ECI officials with its party delegation of 10 MPs on November 28.

"Time has been sought for a delegation of 10 MPs. They are representatives ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, unlike the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and ECs, who are hand-picked by the Government of India. These selective leaks portraying the EC as "transparent" and "cordial" are nothing but a manufactured facade. If the @ECISVEEP is genuinely transparent, why is it scared to face just 10 MPs? Hold the meeting openly. TELECAST IT LIVE and answer the five straightforward, legitimate questions that the AITC will place before you. Is the Election Commission willing to prove its transparency or does it only function behind closed doors?" Banerjee asked in a social media post.

Information surfaced earlier in the day about the ECI writing a letter to the West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chairperson, Mamata Banerjee, giving approval for a meeting with a party delegation to discuss various issues, including the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the commission in the state, and accordingly 11 a.m. on Friday was fixed as the time and date of the meeting at the ECI's headquarter in New Delhi.

Later, the leader of Trinamool Congress's Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O'Brien, sent a reply to the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, intimating the names of members of the 10-member delegation who would be going to the ECI office on Friday to attend the meeting.

Besides, O'Brien, the other nine members of the delegation will be Lok Sabha members Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed, Mahua Moitra, and Rajya Sabha members Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, and Prakash Chik Barik

Later, Abhishek Banerjee issued a social media post challenging the commission to telecast the meeting live.

--IANS

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