CALCUTTA: On Wednesday, West Bengal’s ruling TMC stepped up his war of attrition with the governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, demanding his dismissal for “transgressing constitutional limits.”
An angry Dhankhar responded, claiming that free and fair elections are not held in the state and that it is his duty to ensure that people exercise their right to vote without fear.
A team of TMC MPs sent a letter to the president on Tuesday listing “all such transgressions” of Dhankhar in recent times and urged him to take action under article 156, clause 1 of the Constitution, party MP Rajya Sabha , Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told reporters here.
“The governor holds office during the president’s pleasure under Article 156, clause 1. We have urged the president to withdraw the pleasure, which results in the removal of this governor,” Roy said.
The relevant article of the Constitution refers to a state governor who holds office as long as the president does not withdraw the “pleasure.”
“We have noticed that since he came to the state in July last year, he has been regularly tweeting, holding press meetings and participating in television discussions, where he regularly passes comments on the functioning of the state government, our officials, ministers, the prime minister. Even once about the conduct of the president of the assembly. Every action of this kind violates his constitutional rights, “Roy said.
Claiming that Dhankhar has been making such statements in public at the behest of the BJP-led government in the Center to shame the TMC government in the state, Roy said: “This has never happened before in West Bengal’s 75-year history. If you have to say something, you can communicate it in the manner provided by the Constitution, not by tweeting or holding press meetings. ”
Dhankhar, who has been locked in a seemingly endless battle with the Mamata banerjee the government, he replied, stating that its duty is to ensure that people have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote without fear.
“Free and fair elections are not held without fear (in the state),” Dhankhar told reporters during a visit to a temple in the western part of the city.
The governor said he does not care who people vote for, but it is his duty to ensure that they can exercise their right to vote without intimidation.
He also urged the government machinery to be neutral during the Elections to the West Bengal Assembly probably April-May next year.
Dhankhar has often accused the state’s civil and police administration of succumbing to pressure from the Mamata Banerjee government.
Roy cited Dhankhar’s statement seeking details of Bengal Business Summit spending, his demand for an apology from the chief minister for some of his recent comments, and his “threat to 25 IPS officials” as urging the governor to “violate your rights and limitations “.
“He has also said that it is his duty to ensure free and fair elections. Who is he? It is the domain of the Election Commission. Similarly, only the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has the authority to seek details of the expenses for state-organized events such as the Bengal Business Summit, “said Roy.
“A constitutional head elected by the Center cannot interfere in the functioning of the state in this way. It is similar to an interference in the parliamentary system. He is doing these things intentionally. He is not in a position to occupy the seat of the governor that he has been occupying, “Roy said.
In reaction to the development, the BJP’s national secretary general, Kailash Vijayvargiya, said that the governor is fulfilling his constitutional duty, as he discovers that the state government is not fulfilling its functions adequately in certain parameters.
“I do not believe that the TMC’s action to ask the president to remove the governor will have any impact. The president will be governed by his own understanding of the role of the governor,” he told reporters.
“The governor is acting within the constitutional parameters as head of state. The TMC is doing it because he is afraid,” added the senior BJP leader.
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