Apparently under pressure from political parties in the wake of violence-marred civic polls, West Bengal State Election Commissioner S R Upadhyay on Tuesday resigned even as counting of ballots is yet to be taken up.
Upadhyay submitted the resignation to Governor K N Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan.
"He (Upadhyay) came to me at about quarter to four and he handed over his resignation. I received the resignation. He pressed for it and I have sent the resignation for the comment of the government. I am yet to receive the views of the government at this stage," the governor told here on the sidelines of a programme in Kolkata.
Asked whether he asked Upadhyay not to resign, Tripathi replied in the negative.
To a question whether the resignation was unfortunate, the governor said "You can make your own comment. I should not give my comment on it. He (Upadhyay) has resigned and that is a fact."
On violence during the civic polling on October 3, he said "if any one has grievance, there are remedies. It is not appropriate for me to comment on it."
Upadhyay came under criticism from both ruling Trinamool Congress as well as opposition parties in the wake of Saturday's civic polls to Bidhannagar and Asansol which were marred by violence and malpractices.
Opposition parties, including Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have demanded fresh elections to Bidhannagar,
Asansol and Bally under Howrah Municipal Corporation while the Trinamool Congress demanded counting of votes on October 7 as scheduled.
Under mounting pressure, the SEC had at first postponed the date of counting on Sunday but yesterday decided to hold the exercise on October 9.
