Happening today in Bengal: EC team arrives to review SIR roll out, ‘panic suicides’ to give fresh ammo to TMC

He is being accompanied by ECI Principal Secretary SB Joshi and Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEC), West Bengal, Manoj Agarwal is likely to join them.

The team will visit Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts to see the SIR roll out there. While Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri have borders with Bangladesh, Alipurduar shares borders with Bhutan.

Till 5 pm on Tuesday, the state CEO said that 18 lakh SIR emuneration forms were distributed to voters by Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) in the state. The number is likely to increase further.

‘SIR panic deaths’: TMC to sharpen attack

With the suicide by two more persons over the alleged SIR panic on Tuesday, the ruling TMC is likely to sharpen its attack on the Election Commission and the BJP.

On Tuesday, two persons – a 28-year-old daily wage labourer and 45-year-old farmer – allegedly killed themselves over the “SIR fear” in Howrah’s Uluberia and Murshidabad district’s Kandi area, respectively. Earlier, two suicides and one suicide attempt were linked to the fear over the SIR.

The TMC, which has been calling the SIR as Centre’s “backdoor implementation” of controversial NRC (National Register of Citizens), is most likely to again hit out at the EC and BJP for “creating an atmosphere of fear”.

TMC MP and No. 2 in the party, Abhishek Banerjee, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “dictating terms to the poor and middle class at his whims” and likened the SIR process to PM’s earlier decisions such as demonetisation.

“Be it demonetisation or demanding endless citizenship documents, Modi has always imposed his diktats on the common man,” the Diamond Harbour MP said on Tuesday.

The suicide incidents is likely to give fresh ammo to Abhishek, on whose direction TMC minister met the family of Uluberia youth on Tuesday.

Sunny dry weather today, but rain, clouds on the horizon

While Wednesday is expected to be pleasant with sunny clear skies, the development of a low-pressure area, which is turning into a depression, over the Bay of Bengal, may bring rain to the state in the days ahead. There is a likelihood of a 2-3 degrees Celsius fall in minimum temperatures this week.