New Delhi, Sept. 20 :     Bihar Governor B.M. Lal?s decision to write to the Union home secretary, seeking the removal of certain polling personnel in the state, has sparked a controversy with the Congress today complaining to the President against his conduct. The CPM and Janata Dal (Secular), led by H.D. Deve Gowda, also protested the Governor?s action. Only the BJP had no objections to his report. Lal yesterday wrote to the home secretary demanding the transfer of ?dubious? poll officials. The Congress today asked why the Governor chose to write to the Union home secretary instead of the Bihar government, the President and the Election Commission. The Congress, which appears to have taken up the cause of ally Rashtriya Janata Dal, also sought the dismissal of defence minister George Fernandes and urged President K.R. Narayanan to intervene. It complained against the Governor and the Centre for interfering with the electoral process. Congress leaders Arjun Singh, Manmohan Singh, Ahmad Patel and Kapil Sibal met the President to protest Fernandes? ?outrageous and extraordinary? charge that the Intelligence Bureau director had told him that excess ballot papers for Bihar were printed in West Bengal. The director himself had reportedly denied having made any such statement before the Election Commission. Justice Lal is in Delhi and has met the President to clarify his stand. The Opposition has insinuated that the Governor, whose six-month term ends in October, is trying to get either an extended term or a fresh appointment in some other state. Clarifying that the Congress did not want to ?drag a constitutional office? into a public debate, Sibal said the party wanted the Governor to maintain an ?apolitical? posture. ?It is sad that a person, just days away from retirement, should be seen as muddying the constitutional waters further,? he said. Sibal emphasised that the Congress was committed to purity of election process but it should not be confined to ?one-party, one state? (RJD and Bihar). Echoing the Congress, the CPM also lashed out at the Governor and said his actions were ?unbecoming?. The party wondered how Lal could overstep his jurisdiction and question the competence and authority of the Election Commission. Saying his complaints should have been addressed to the state government, the party politburo said Lal, ?who is due to retire as chief justice of Patna High Court on October 6, has chosen to bypass the state government and the Election Commission?. The Congress asked how Fernandes had dragged the IB director?s name into the issue when he had nothing to do with the poll process. Party spokesman Kapil Sibal claimed that he had ?reliable? information that the IB director had denied any role in the controversy. ?Is it established procedure for the Intelligence Bureau director to report to the defence minister? Moreover, was the information given to Fernandes in his capacity as Union minister or as candidate for the Lok Sabha polls?? Sibal asked. The Congress team recalled that Fernandes had ?made use? of a RAW aircraft to visit Chakrata in Uttar Pradesh along with party colleague Jaya Jaitley. ?He should be sacked, at least now, for seeking to pervert established procedures,? Sibal said.