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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the deletion of names from the electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), alleging that they were done in a targeted manner by some particular communities.
“In a family of five, one member’s name is on the list, while the names of four others are missing. Names are being deleted in a targeted manner. Lakhs of names from some communities are being deleted. Whose zamindari is this? Is the country the BJP’s zamindari?” Banerjee said during a media interaction in Kolkata.
The ECI published the final electoral roll for West Bengal on February 28, dropping 6.18 million names and keeping 70.46 million voters in the list after the SIR. Another six million names were sent for adjudication by judicial officers appointed by the Calcutta high court.
“I heard that in one polling station at Suti in Murshidabad district, around 400 names of the 500 voters in that booth were deleted. At Basirhat, of the 600 voters in one booth, around 400 names were deleted. Who has done this? Who is behind this? People would definitely seek answers some day. If you have guts, publish the list. People should know whose names have been enrolled and whose names have been deleted,” Banerjee said.
The ECI published the first supplementary list on Monday. Even though names of voters, who were deleted from the electoral roll, were uploaded polling-station-wise, the ECI didn’t share any data on the total number of deletions or inclusions.
“They are on a deleting spree. The list hasn’t been published yet. It was the Supreme Court’s directive to publish the list. But we haven’t received the first supplementary list yet. It is not in the public domain yet. It is the murder of democracy. Nothing can be more unfortunate than this,” she said.
“When did the Supreme Court’s verdict come? When was the first supplementary list scheduled to be published? The final list (final roll after SIR) was published on February 28. Hearing for adjudication has been going on since then. I heard that 50% names were deleted,” she added.
The ECI has set up 19 appellate tribunals across West Bengal, appointing retired judges to hear appeals against orders of judicial officers in cases involving voters marked “under adjudication”.
The poll body assigned its most sensitive districts to its most senior appointee — former Calcutta high court chief justice TS Sivagnanam — who heads the tribunals covering Kolkata and North 24 Parganas.
“The entire system has become the BJP’s vanishing washing machine. They have vanished democracy and people’s rights. I feel disgusted and ashamed. The people of West Bengal will give a befitting reply,” Banerjee said.
“Do they want to conduct the elections after snatching away the voting rights of people? Do they want to operate a washing machine? Will the people tolerate everything? There will be a solution. Truth will come out, mark my words on Ram Navami,” she added.
