Leading a delegation of the state BJP unit, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari alleged that there are approximately 16 lakh fake or duplicate voters in the state and urged the commission to take necessary steps to remove them from the electoral rolls.
Expressing disappointment into the issue, the BJP in its letter to CEO Ariz Aftab, stated that despite assurances from the poll panel, the list still includes false/duplicate names.
“We are pained to bring to your notice that the final voter list, which was made available on January 25 is full of false/ duplicate voters’ names. Despite many discussions we have had with you including the last one on February 2, wherein we were assured that all steps are being taken to weed out false/duplicate names based on data match and photo match. We regret to put on record that practically no such weeding out happened. The Voter List has 16,91,132 duplicate names where 3 fields match — Name; Relative Name, Age. To our utter amazement there are 1,487 duplicate names where even the EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card) matches,” the party wrote in its letter to Aftab.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party asks the Commission to take whatever steps needed to ensure that these duplicate voters are removed, and the list is cleaned of these false voters, to ensure free and fair polls,” read the letter.
Speaking to the reporters after meeting the CEO, Adhikari said, “We have brought to the notice of the Election Commission the number of false/duplicate voters in the voters’ list and have submitted the list. The poll panel must take steps to remove these false voters from the list.”
Meanwhile, the BJP began a two-day sit-in demonstration in front of Gandhi statue at Mayo Road against the state government for its failure to arrest absconding Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh.
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday had allowed a two-day sit-in demonstration to the BJP in Kolkata, directing that the number of participants should not exceed 150 people. Lashing out at the state police, BJP MP Dilip Ghosh asked, “Why is he still not arrested by the police? This means he is under its protection. The state government should immediately arrest the absconding TMC leader who is accused of land grabbing and sexual assault of women in Sandeshkhali.”
On Monday, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had assured that Sheikh would be arrested in seven days. But, Adhikari claimed that there has been no development into the issue. “The law and order in West Bengal has worsened under the TMC regime. Several incidents of land grabs and sexual harassment in Sandeshkhali are examples of such a situation in the state. It is the TMC government and the state police who have protected Sheikh,” the Nandigram MLA said.
Adhikari claimed that Sheikh was in police custody since 12 am after being “taken away from Bermajur gram panchayat after he managed a deal with the police through influential mediators that he would be taken care of properly while in police and judicial custody”. “He will be extended five star facilities during his time behind the bars and will have access to a mobile phone, through which he will be able to lead the TMC virtually. Even a bed in Woodburn Ward will be kept ready and vacant for him.”