Left asks EC to seal Bengal borders for fair polls

Left parties on Monday approached the Election Commission demanding that West Bengal's borders with other states be sealed during the coming assembly polls there to ensure that Maoists do not trigger violence.

A six-member delegation led by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury met the election commissioners and apprised them of their apprehension about the Maoists' plan. Niloptapl Basu from the CPI-M, D Raja and Manohar Tirkey from the CPI, Abani Roy from the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Barun Mukherjee from the Forward Bloc were the other members.

"If you want a peaceful, free and fair election, then it is imperative that the state borders are sealed. The strategy of the Maoists is to strike and go back," Yechury told reporters in New Delhi after meeting.

"Given the terrain on the bordering states like Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar, it is imperative that the borders are sealed," he said, adding that they have asked the EC to send a team to the state to study the violence allegedly perpetrated by the "Trinamool-Maoist" combine.

"They come, they attack and kill and then escape to other states. It took 20 years to catch smuggler Veerappan. He used to change his hideouts in three states. That is the advantage of forests. Unless there is a coordinated action, the problem cannot be solved," Yechury said.

He claimed that 274 Left Front activists were killed by the Trinamool-Maoist combine in the state in recent years. Yechury also said the delegation asked the EC to pay "special attention" to Darjeeling where, during the last elections, "90 per cent of the votes were polled in one direction".

Asked whether it was the failure of the state administration in containing Maoist voilence in the state, he said the areas from where Maoist-Trinamool violence is reported is manned by joint security forces of the Centre and the state.