Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the process of replacing Rajiva Sinha as the state election commissioner, if it were to be attempted, would not be easy as it would necessitate an impeachment akin to that of judges.

Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Wednesday night refused to accept Sinha's joining report. As the governor is the appointing authority of the state election commissioner, the appointee needs to submit a joining report to Raj Bhavan.

“The post of the governor is constitutional. He is bound by duty to clear files sent to him by the state government. He had not only cleared the file pertaining to Rajiva Sinha’s appointment as the state election commissioner but also administered his oath of office,” the chief minister told journalists at the Calcutta airport.

“As a matter of fact, the Constitution states that if one has to remove the election commissioner, then an entire impeachment process has to be followed, similar to what one needs to do for removing a judge. As I said, the process is not an easy one,” added the Trinamul Congress chief.

“The Centre should realise that we are an elected government and the people have duly voted us to power. Since the moment we won, the central government began harassing us,” said Mamata.

The state BJP leadership, especially leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, had issued public statements, disapproving of Bose picking Sinha from among three persons whose names Nabanna had sent to Raj Bhavan. The other two were A.R. Bardhan and M.V. Rao.

“I believe that the more the central government tries to inconvenience us, the more they insult Bengal in the process, the more they hinder Bengal’s progress,” said a visibly displeased Mamata on Thursday.

“The people of our land will give them a stern reply. Instead of being able to fight us politically, they are being aggressive in other ways, and getting us hounded by central agencies, for the sole purpose of harassment,” she added. “However, popular memory is unforgiving, the masses can see right through the vendetta, and will respond to them politically.”

According to a source in Nabanna, Sinha’s refusal to meet Bose — when Raj Bhavan summoned him to discuss poll-related violence — earlier this week on the ground that the official was busy with the scrutiny of nomination papers could also be cited as a reason for not accepting his joining report. The source added that the governor’s refusal to accept the joining letter did not mean the removal of the poll panel chief.