Declare Bengal super sensitive for polls: BJP to EC

New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation here on Wednesday met Elelction Commission officials and demanded that West Bengal be declared a "super sensitive" state for 2019 Lok Sabha polls due to its "history of violence".

The BJP delegation, led by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and comprising Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, J.P. Nadda and party's general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Kailash Vijayvargiya, urged the poll panel to deploy central forces in the state for "free and fair" conduct of elections and also demanded withdrawal of former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar from election duty.

"We have demanded that West Bengal be declared super sensitive state and the central forces should be deployed at all polling stations," Prasad told reporters.

Remarking that West Bengal was the only state where over 100 people were killed in the local elections, he said deployment of central police forces at all booths was a must.

"We have conveyed to the commission that West Bengal's track record in free and fair election is very deplorable," he said.

The senior BJP leader accused the state police of acting like Trinamool Congress Party workers and said officers who are "close" to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should be kept away from elections.

"Officers sit on demonstration with the chief minister. Such officers should be removed. Need an impartial election," he said.

The BJP has been trying to improve its position in the state where it has mostly been a fringe player ever since its inception in 1980.

Till date, the BJP has bagged Lok Sabha seats in the state only thrice - one in 1998, two in 1999 (both in alliance with the Trinamool) and two in 2014 (by fighting alone). West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats.