Serampore (WB), Sep 26 Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission conducted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state to help the BJP win the assembly polls by deleting valid voters’ names.
She also accused the state police of acting at the behest of the ruling BJP in minority-dominated Rejinagar assembly seat in Murshidabad, where a bypoll is due next month.
Addressing a rally at Serampore in Hooghly district, her first public meeting outside state capital Kolkata since the TMC’s defeat in state assembly elections in May, the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress chief trained her guns on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the “truth” about the manner in which the poll panel was used by the BJP had now emerged, in an apparent reference to a recent news report.
She said countrywide protests will continue until Kumar resigns.
“Vanish (Gyanesh) Kumar must go. Until he resigns, our agitation will continue,” Banerjee said, using a pun on the CEC’s name while alleging that voters were being systematically removed from electoral rolls.
She claimed that around 93 lakh names were either deleted or put under adjudication during the SIR in West Bengal, alleging the exercise aimed to help the BJP capture the state.
“SIR was conducted in West Bengal to capture the state. Ninety-three lakh names were either deleted or put under adjudication,” she said, adding that her party had earlier raised questions about the role of election official Seema Khanna.
Banerjee also alleged that BJP workers had submitted Form 6 applications in bulk bearing the party’s seal, and claimed that her party had preserved evidence of the alleged activity.
The EC’s official West Bengal SIR portal lists deletion and supplementary rolls and provides mechanisms for claims, objections and appeals against electoral-roll decisions. The poll panel has also been dealing with a large number of appeals relating to the revision.
Banerjee’s allegations came against the backdrop of continuing political and legal scrutiny of the SIR process. According to figures reported from the EC’s submissions, 38.20 lakh appeals relating to deletion and inclusion had been filed, of which about 1.02 lakh had been disposed of by September 18.
The former chief minister also targeted the police, saying their role was to protect people and not prevent them from attending political meetings.
“Police are not my enemy. Their job is to protect people. But what are they doing today?” she asked, alleging that TMC supporters in Serampore had been picked up from their homes on Friday night to prevent them from attending her meeting.
In Rejinagar, she alleged that police were “working on behalf of the BJP” and were taking away voter identity cards from members of the minority community.
The allegation comes ahead of the October 6 Rejinagar Assembly bypoll, where the campaign has already been marked by disputes over party identity, election symbols, candidate withdrawals and allegations of arrests of political workers.
The RSP, a Left Front constituent, has withdrawn from the contest after alleging that it was denied its traditional ‘spade and shovel’ symbol. The party’s decision came amid a dispute over symbols and the competing factions of the Trinamool Congress.
The Mamata-led faction itself felt a scare after its Rejinagar candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury announced his withdrawal, citing difficulties in campaigning without the party’s traditional symbol and concerns among his supporters. Within hours, however, he reversed his decision after speaking to Banerjee and said he would contest the election with the newly allotted symbol.
The EC has allotted separate names and symbols to rival Trinamool factions amid their dispute over the party’s identity and the traditional ‘jora ghash phool’ (two flowers and grass) symbol.
Rejinagar is a politically significant constituency with a large minority electorate, making Banerjee’s allegations over voter cards and police action particularly pointed in the run-up to polling.
But the Serampore rally was not confined to the election machinery.
Standing alongside Serampore TMC MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, the former chief minister also sought to position herself as the principal opposition voice on issues affecting street vendors and beneficiaries of welfare schemes.
She alleged that hawkers were being deprived of their livelihood through eviction drives and said she would fight their cases in court with Kalyan Banerjee.
“Everyone has the right to livelihood. It is a democratic right and nobody can be deprived of it,” she said, promising legal support and compensation for affected hawkers.
Banerjee also attacked the BJP over its welfare promises, alleging that assurances made before the assembly polls had not been fulfilled.
She specifically referred to the Annapurna scheme and claimed that women who had been promised financial assistance were now being denied the benefits.
The Serampore meeting marked a significant political moment for Banerjee after the assembly election defeat that ended the TMC’s 15-year rule in West Bengal and brought the BJP to power. It was also the first major district-level rally of the Mamata-led faction after the split within the Trinamool Congress and the accompanying dispute over the party’s name and election symbol.
The choice of Serampore — a seat represented by Kalyan Banerjee and a constituency with a long-standing TMC organisational base — gave the former chief minister an opportunity to combine attacks on the new state government with her continuing campaign against the EC.
The Rejinagar and Nandigram Assembly bypolls are scheduled for October 6 and counting will be held on October 9.
(PTI News)
