Governor CV Ananda Bose said on Thursday that state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha had disappointed and failed the people of Bengal and held him responsible for the violence that had unfolded since the panchayat polls had been declared.

"I appointed you, you have disappointed the people. My constitutional 'Appointee', you have failed in your duty. You have failed the people. You are responsible for the corpses that fell on the streets," Bose said at a news conference at Raj Bhavan on Thursday.

Highlighting his visits to several violence-hit parts of Bengal and what emerged from his conversations with the common people, Bose said people were urging the State Election Commission to deploy central forces everywhere, including polling booths.

"People are saying, maybe in apprehension, that duplicate ballot papers are being printed. They say this will replace the original ballot papers, the symbol of most sacred democratic right. The right to vote is at peril," he added.

Rajiva Sinha. File photo

Bose punctuated his address with quotes from Shakespeare and references to Hindu mythological texts, including Mahabharata.

Bose's comments were met with an opprobrious reaction from the Trinamul.

Abhishek Banerjee, MP and national general secretary of the party, said the governor's actions were driven by political intentions. He questioned why Bose did not pay any visit to the families from the state who were the victims of the Bahanaga triple train accident.

"If he practised what he preaches, he should echo the state’s demand for the release of funds due to it and frozen by the Centre. He did not visit even one of the victim families from Bengal of the Bahanaga train tragedy, because there was no scope of reaping electoral dividends," Banerjee said.

The Diamond Harbour MP continued his criticism of the governor and accused him of taking orders from the Centre.

"He has been trying within his limited ability to follow the letter and spirit of every order issued to him by the Centre. If the commission has blood on its hands, whose hands are smeared by the blood of the hundreds killed in Manipur? I think he, as a person, is extremely competent, wise, intelligent, and I should not be commenting on what he should say or do… that would be blasphemous. I would rather request the Centre, it is the need of the hour, to take cognisance of the intellect, wisdom, such understanding of democratic values and the Constitution of the governor and immediately send him to Manipur. He is needed more at this time in Manipur, not in Bengal," Banerjee said.

While the ruling dispensation criticised Bose's role, the Opposition parties stood by the questions raised by him.

Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said the people of Bengal no longer had faith in the state election commissioner, who was behaving as a member of the Trinamul.

"The honourable governor is the appointer of the SEC. He has imparted the right suggestions and the commissioner must follow his advice," Majumdar said.