The CPIML (Liberation) has lodged complaints with the Election Commission, seeking the arrest and prosecution of CISF personnel responsible for the firing at voters outside a polling booth in Cooch Behar district and a ban on campaign by Union home minister Amit Shah and Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh for allegedly vilifying the victims.

In a complaint lodged with chief election commissioner Sunil Arora on Sunday, CPIML (Liberation)’s central committee member Abhijit Mazumder asked him to act against the CISF personnel responsible for the killings.

“The CISF firing is being justified in the name of “self-defence”. But this excuse does not hold, since there is no evidence that those killed committed any violence against the CISF personnel. Any minor skirmish between supporters of various parties could and should certainly have been handled with minimum force. If the CISF cannot maintain order without using the maximum deadly force, why are they being deployed during elections at all?

“We demand that the accused CISF personnel be arrested and prosecuted for the killing. We demand that the EC ease the deployment of central forces and take measures to restore voter confidence....,” said the complaint

In another complaint on Monday, the party’s politburo member Kavita Krishnan alleged that remarks of Amit Shah, Dilip Ghosh and BJP leader Sayantan Basu vilified the firing victims. She demanded a ban on their campaigning.

Highlighting the inconsistencies in the EC’s narrative, Krishnan added: “The injuries on Mrinal’s body give the lie to the police observer’s report to the EC, that Mrinal had fallen sick, and that onlookers mistakenly assumed he had been beaten by jawans and assembled a violent mob which attacked the CISF…”

A report by Vivek Dube, the special police observer deputed to Bengal by the EC, said Mrinal Haque had fallen sick near the polling booth where the firing had taken place and some women were taking care of him.

The EC is yet to respond to the letters.