Mamata Banerjee criticises UPSC for asking ‘politically motivated’ question on Bengal poll violence

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday questioned the impartiality of the Union Public Service Commission, which conducts national-level exams for civil and armed police services, reported PTI. She alleged that the UPSC had asked “politically motivated” questions during the recruitment examination for the Central Armed Police Forces.

Candidates for the exam were asked to write a report on the “poll violence in West Bengal” that erupted after the Assembly elections in the state in April-May. The recruitment examination was held on August 8.

“The UPSC is asking BJP’s questions,” Banerjee alleged, according to NDTV. “UPSC used to be an impartial body but the BJP is giving it questions to ask. Even the question in a UPSC paper on the protest by farmers was politically motivated.”

Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress had won the bitterly-fought Assembly elections. Violence broke out in the state after the results were declared, leading to the deaths of workers from the state’s ruling party as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party. Various news reports put the toll between 11 and 14, but the police did not confirm the numbers. Reports also emerged about sexual assaults on women.

On June 18, the High Court directed the National Human Rights Commission to set up a seven-member committee to investigate complaints…

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