West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday replied to the show cause notice issued to her for violating the Model Code of Conduct by the Election Commission. The contents of the reply are, however, not known.
“Today our party chief has replied to the show cause notice issued to her by the Election Commission in the capacity as Trinamool Congress head. The reply has been sent to the Election Commission, but we are not divulging the details,” a senior Trinamool leader told the Press Trust of India on the condition of anonymity.
“The party maintains that the decision to carve out a new Asansol district was taken at a cabinet meeting held in December 2015 and was nothing new,” the leader said.
The Election Commission had rejected the response of West Bengal Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee to its show cause notice issued to Ms Banerjee for violating the model code of conduct on Tuesday, and had given the Trinamool chief a three-day deadline to respond personally.
Questioning the way Basudeb Banerjee had “defended” the action of the chief minister in promising a new district when the model code is in force, the Election Commission told him the use of the words “by order of the Chief Minister” in the response was “avoidable” and also asked him to not use such language in future.
The West Bengal Chief Secretary had written to the Election Commission on behalf of the Trinamool Congress chief, who was served with a show cause notice last week for announcing the creation of a new district in the state where elections are currently being held.
West Bengal votes for 62 seats in the third phase of assembly elections today.
PTI