State election commissioner Rajiva Sinha on Sunday called on governor C.V. Ananda Bose and reportedly apprised him of plans on how central security forces would be deployed for the July 8 panchayat polls.

The meeting came four days after Raj Bhavan had refused to accept Sinha’s joining report.

Sinha reached Raj Bhavan around 5.30pm on Sunday and spoke to Bose for a little over two hours. While there had been speculation initially that Bose had summoned the chief of the State Election Commission (SEC), the governor himself clarified on Sunday that it was Sinha who had wanted to meet him.

On Wednesday evening, Bose had returned the former chief secretary’s joining report as the state election commissioner after Sinha had not visited Raj Bhavan despite the governor’s summons. Sinha had apparently cited his preoccupation with the scrutiny of nominations to ignore the summons.

“The meeting was very cordial. The commissioner shared the plans on how to use the central forces with the governor,” a source in the poll panel said on Sunday.

Rajiva Sinha. File picture

Sources in Raj Bhavan said Bose had advised Sinha toact impartially and ensure that the “bloody” episode of filing nominations was not repeated.

Reacting to the meeting, Trinamul Congress MP Santanu Sen said it was normal for the constitutional head of the state (Bose) to meet an individual who was holding another constitutional position (Sinha) below him.

“It is good that finally, the good sense has prevailed upon the governor. He had earlier called Rajiva Sinha who could not meet him because he was busy with the polls. To create pressure on Sinha, the governor had returned his joining report.”

Bose on Sunday advised politicians and bureaucrats not to “underestimate the power of the common man”. He was speaking at a private event in Burrabazar.

Bose referred to the incidents of violence that had been reported from pockets of rural Bengal after the announcement of the polls and reminded the lawmakers and law enforcers of their duty towards the people.

Sinha wrote to the Union home ministry again on Sunday, seeking 485 companies of central forces for the polls. The commission had asked for 800 additional companies of central forces initially. However, only 337 companies have been sanctioned so far and 22 of them have already arrived in Bengal.

It is unlikely that the Union home ministry will give a nod to the deployment of 485 more companies because that will mean that forces are withdrawn from sensitive places across the country.