Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shamik Bhattacharya on Monday questioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to travel to New Delhi to meet the Chief Election Commissioner over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming that similar exercises had been carried out in several other states without any such protest by chief ministers.
“SIR has been conducted in at least 12 states. Has any chief minister from those states come to Delhi like this? Mamata Banerjee is scared,” Bhattacharya alleged, accusing the Trinamul Congress (TMC) of attempting to politicise a routine electoral exercise.
Echoing similar criticism, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, launched a sharp attack on the chief minister at a press conference in Kolkata, alleging that fear and confusion surrounding the SIR process had been deliberately created by the state government under Mamata Banerjee’s instructions.
While the chief minister was in Delhi to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, the BJP organised counter-programmes across the state on the SIR issue. Addressing the media amid these protests, Adhikari claimed that the SIR exercise was being manipulated through sections of the election machinery allegedly influenced by the ruling party and its political consultancy firm, I-PAC.
“The name of the fear is Mamata Banerjee. From day one, intimidation has been carried out and panic has been deliberately created,” Adhikari alleged. He claimed that large numbers of voters were harassed after being summoned for hearings due to spelling errors in names and surnames, which he alleged were intentionally introduced.
According to the BJP leader, a section of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) had acted under the direction of the Trinamul Congress and I-PAC. “Millions of people were called for hearings after deliberate errors were made in voter records. This was done on the chief minister’s instructions,” he alleged.
Demanding strict action, Adhikari called for the immediate suspension and registration of FIRs against officials involved in the alleged irregularities. He also demanded the suspension of the district magistrates of Murshidabad, South 24-Parganas and East Midnapur, claiming the BJP possessed “specific information” against them.
The Trinamul Congress, however, has consistently maintained that the SIR process has led to harassment of voters and has sought the Election Commission of India’s intervention to ensure transparency and fairness in the exercise.