Upping the ante against the Election Commission (EC) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that the poll panel brought in the concept of “logical discrepancies” to remove genuine voters from the electoral roll. She also slammed the EC for “unilaterally” deleting 54 lakh names from the draft roll in West Bengal without giving them the chance to defend.
Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna, the chief minister said, “They have already deleted 54 lakhs names, but did not give any explanation why they deleted so many names. Now, they are planning to delete another 1.30 crores in the name of logical discrepancies. This term was not mentioned when the SIR was announced.”
Logical discrepancy was not part of the original SIR verification process, and it was included as an afterthought to add to deletions, the TMC chief said, alleging a “BJP-EC nexus”.
Last month, on December 16, the EC released the draft roll of West Bengal in which the names of over 58 lakh electors were deleted on grounds of being absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate.
Before the launch of the SIR exercise, there were 7.6 crore voters on the roll. After the first phase of SIR, 7.08 crore (92.40%) names were retained in the draft electoral roll, and 58 lakh names were removed.
“They (EC officials) are not accepting domicile certificate or any other documents of the state government. Why are they doing this? They (the Opposition BJP) are thinking that by doing such things, they will win Bengal. They are playing the same game in Bengal that they had played in Bihar or Maharashtra,” the chief minister added.
Without taking any names, the chief minister alleged that an Army commandant is involved in the SIR exercise by acting “like a BJP agent”.
“Amar kachhe khobor achhe. Ek jon commandant Fort William-e boshe SIR kaaj korchen. BJP agent hishabe kaaj korchen. Ami request korbo, please eta korben na (I have information that a commandant is working for the SIR at Fort William. He is working as a BJP agent. I request him, please don’t do this),” the CM claimed
Fort William in Kolkata is the operational headquarters of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command.
She also claimed that thousands of Form 7 (objection forms) were recovered from a BJP leader’s car during a police check.
The ruling TMC, in a post on X, claimed, “A vehicle of BJP leaders carrying approximately 3,000–4,000 objection forms (Form 7) was caught with voter names and details pre-filled across the district, but a majority of them are from Taldangra AC. There were five BJP workers in the vehicle, and the vehicle was from Taldangra Assembly constituency… Two people were caught, while three fled from the spot. They are currently at the Khatra police station under investigation, and an FIR has been lodged against them. BJP leader’s sinister plot to delete names of people has been exposed.”
At the press meet, the TMC chief said, “Is this not murder of democracy?”
Form 7 is the application to EC for citing objections against inclusion of the name of a person in electoral rolls or seeking deletion of self or any other person’s names from the rolls on grounds of death or shifting.
The BJP is yet to issue a statement on the chief minister’s latest charge.
The TMC chief also hit out at the micro-observers appointed by the EC for the hearing sessions. “These micro-observers are slaves of the BJP. In Bihar or any other state, no such micro-observers were deployed. Why have they been deployed only in West Bengal? I have specific information that these micro-observers are calling electors “anti-nationals”. When people submit their documents, they are told that these documents are not eligible.”
“I would like to tell DEOs, EROs, AEROs, and BLOs: Don’t be afraid. Work as per the law. If anything happens, inform the police,” the chief minister said.
She also asked the Matua community not to get afraid. “You people should snatch back your rights. Go to the BLO office, ERO office, or DM office. Ask them whether your name is in the list. If not, then ask why your name has been deleted,” she said.
The chief minister has already written five letters to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar against the SIR exercise, and has threatened to move the Supreme Court.