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EC asks TMC team for talks on Nov 28, party seeks live telecast of meet

NEW DELHI: Tensions flared between the Election Commission (EC) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday, following the ECs invitation to a five-member TMC team for a Friday meeting over the contentious SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal. While the EC wrote to West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday that a five-member delegation can meet its top brass on Friday, TMC insisted that the party would dispatch a 10-member delegation. In a letter to EC on Tuesday, TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek OBrien listed the names of 10 leaders who would attend the meeting. The list includes Lok Sabha MPs Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed and Mahua Moitra, and Rajya Sabha MPs Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale and Prakash Chik Barik, besides OBrien. There is no way we are going to agree to the limit on the number of members in the delegation imposed by EC. A 10-member team would go for the meeting, a TMC leader said. However, in its letter, the EC pointed out that OBrien had requested an appointment with a delegation of party MPs. He wrote to EC on Sunday seeking time. The commission always welcomes regular interaction with political parties for constructive dialogue. Accordingly, the commission has considered the partys request and decided to give an appointment to the delegation comprising the authorised representative of the party along with four other members for a meeting at 11 am on November 28, the EC said in its letter. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said If ECI is genuinely transparent, why is it scared to face just 10 MPs? Hold the meeting openly. Telecast it live and answer the five straightforward, legitimate questions of TMC.