With the Election Commission all set to start Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, where Assembly elections are due early next year, the state unit of the BJP on Thursday held a high-level meeting to strategise its plan. Sources in the party said the meeting – chaired by state in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and attended by his deputy Biplab Deb, state unit chief Samik Bhattacharya, party leaders Sunil Bansal, Amit Malviya, and Sukanta Majumdar among others – focused on two things – “ensuring no Hindu voters’ name is removed during SIR, and identifying Assembly seats where it could win this time”. “In the meeting, instructions were given to party leaders to remain vigilant during SIR to ensure that no Hindu voter's name is removed from the electoral rolls. For this purpose, Hindu voters will be made aware of the EC exercise through camps, so that they can correct any errors in the electoral roll,” said a senior BJP leader. Earlier in the day, Union minister Shantanu Thakur claimed that around 1.2 crore "illegal voters" could be removed from the state electoral rolls through the SIR. Thakur, a prominent leader of the Matua community, said the SIR would ensure a transparent voter list and remove what he termed as "Rohingyas, infiltrators and ghost voters" from the state's electoral rolls. "If SIR is implemented properly, the TMC government will have no escape route. At least one crore to 1.2 crore people who have illegally become voters in West Bengal will be deleted. Rohingyas, infiltrators, and ghost voters will not be able to cast their votes anymore," the BJP MP said, triggering a sharp retort from the TMC leaders who warned that the SIR process could backfire on the BJP itself. At the meeting, sources said, the party leadership identified 160 Assembly seats where special focus will be given. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 77 out of 292 seats to emerge as the principal Opposition party in the state. “There were several seats where the party was defeated by a narrow margin of votes in the last Assembly elections. These seats will receive special attention this time,” the BJP leader said. While the party is keen to retain its hold in north Bengal, it will deploy full strength in south Bengal this time, where the TMC has been electorally dominating for close to two decades. According to sources, 50,000 booth committees have been formed, and the leaders have been directed to constitute the remaining. “A separate committee will be formed for the four districts of Kolkata, with Vijay Ojha and Dipanjan Guha being made their in-charge. Committees will be formed for all tasks – for deciding the criteria for candidates, for promotion of central government schemes, among others.
