SIR in Bengal: TMC warns of voters’ deletion, BJP says ruling party scared of losing ‘Bangladeshi votebank’

Reacting sharply to the EC’s move, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party will “democratically protest” any attempt to remove genuine voters from the list.

“Our leaders are analysing the EC’s announcement about the SIR. We are always for flawless voters’ lists. Our leader, Mamata Banerjee, has always demanded that. So, we are not against it, but if any genuine voter is excluded or voters are harassed, the TMC will not sit idle. There will be democratic, peaceful protests,” Ghosh said. He urged people to remain calm and not fall into what he called the “BJP’s trap”.
“We would urge everyone to maintain calm and not fall into the trap of the BJP. Just remember that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are with the people of West Bengal,” he said.

Welcoming the EC’s move, state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said, “TMC is shouting against SIR because it is afraid. They know if SIR happens, those Bangladeshi Muslims who got enrolled in the voters’ list and are a solid votebank of the TMC, will be deleted. The BJP’s stand is clear. Those who were born in this country, whose identity is Indian, their names can’t be deleted from the voters’ list. We demand the process to be transparent and digital.”

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said, “The EC has already said that no genuine voter’s name will be deleted and no illegal voter’s name will remain in the electoral roll. The people of West Bengal are hoping for a transparent process. We are hoping that the state administration will help the EC in the exercise.”

State Congress chief Shuvankar Sarkar said, “We had submitted a memorandum to the EC, demanding 16 modifications to the SIR process as notified for Bihar in June. None of our suggestions has been considered by the EC. The only change in the SIR process that has been introduced is the addition of a notice phase for hearing and verification lasting 53 days after the end of the claims and objections period. This modification is not enough to address the existing anomalies in the SIR process.”

“We had demanded that an all-party meeting be convened both at the national and state levels by the EC before the SIR notification is issued. It is unfortunate that the EC has not adopted a consultative approach and has rather chosen to impose a defective and exclusionary process,” he added.

The CPI(M) demanded that the voters’ list be published in a transparent manner following the SIR.

CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim said the party will depute booth-level agents (BLAs) in every polling booth to ensure that names of genuine voters are not omitted during SIR. “There is provision for death and birth registration in our country, and it is the Election Commission’s duty to ensure that names of genuine voters remain on the rolls,” he said.

Questioning the delay in holding the census, the CPI(M) leader alleged that the absence of credible data has led to confusion on various matters. “How can the BJP and its central leaders say that one crore names will be struck off from the electoral rolls in Bengal following the SIR. It is only after the process is completed that the exact number can be known,” he added.

Salim said that nobody’s voting rights can be taken away on religious, gender or financial grounds.

(With PTI)