KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sent out a stern message to the state’s chief poll officer Manoj Agarwal on Thursday, saying he should stay “within his limits”.
The Chief Minister claimed the poll chief was threatening officials. “The one who has allegations of corruption against him is threatening officers,” she said.
An Election Commission delegation led by Ganesh Bharti concluded its two-day visit to the state to review the preparedness for Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Warning the EC, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said Bengal “will not tolerate deletion of voters”, and accused the BJP-led government at the Centre for “using SIR to disenfranchise voters for its political benefit”, The New Indian Express reported.
“The SIR process itself is a fraud. It does not involve the public. Instead, a few officers are called for meetings and threatened, while the state government is completely excluded from these discussions. There are several complaints against the CEO of West Bengal (Manoj Agarwal), which I will reveal at the right time. But I hope he does not overreact. He has been threatening many officers,” the chief minister said at a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna, in Kolkata.
Questioning the conduct of EC officials visiting the state, the chief minister said: “Assembly election dates are yet to be announced in Bengal. How can EC officials visiting the state summon government officers? How can officers be threatened? Four poll panel officials reportedly called BLROs and threatened them to prepare documents as per their instructions.”
Pointing to BJP MP and Union Minister Shantanu Thakur’s remarks in which he claimed that around 1.2 crore “illegal voters” could be removed from the state electoral rolls through the SIR, the TMC chief said: “How can a Union Minister declare that 1.2 crore voters will be removed? Does that mean plans are being made in the BJP office, and the Election Commission is merely a stamping approval? We expect impartiality from the Election Commission. Both the government and the Opposition together form the fabric of democracy. Above all, the pillars of democracy are the Constitution and the common people, and no one has the right to snatch away a citizen’s right to vote.”
“If genuine voters are removed, the people of Bengal will respond in a way no other state can. Don’t play with fire,” she warned.
Hours later, state CEO Manoj Agarwal asserted that no valid voter’s name will be deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR. “No valid voter’s name will be excluded. Whatever is stated in the law will be followed,” Agarwal said after attending a high-level meeting on voter list revision at Kolaghat in Purba Medinipur district, where a four-member central delegation, including Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, reviewed the preparations for the SIR.
At Nabanna, the chief minister reiterated her charge that the exercise of SIR was the backdoor implementation of the controversial NRC (National Register of Citizens). “This is not SIR. This is backdoor NRC. We strongly condemn the BJP government and Central agencies working under its instructions, who are politicising and saffronising everything — from education to festivals. There is even a Mir Jafar (traitor) sitting in Delhi. They think they can control everything, but if they continue this way, the truth will come out – the cat will be out of the bag,” she said.
On SIR being concluded in poll-bound Bihar, Mamata added, “They (EC) were able to conduct it in Bihar because Bihar has a BJP-NDA government, and the agencies there helped in it. But Bengal’s community composition is completely different. Here, besides Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, there are also SCs, STs, and other minority communities. NRC notices have already been sent to Rajbongshis, minority groups, and migrant workers.”
The poll body delegation held a meeting with all district administrations, barring North Bengal, where flood relief work is in progress.
The poll body has reportedly set a deadline of October 15 to complete preparations for the rollout of SIR in the state. Officially, though, the Commission has not revealed any tentative schedule.
The BJP, which is the principal opposition in the state, has welcomed the special revision, with Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari claiming at least 1 crore names from the voters list in Bengal will be deleted in course of the exercise.
The BJP has slammed Trinamool Congress for supporting infiltrators in the state. The ruling party has vehemently denied the allegation, citing that the international border security is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The BJP and Trinamool are locked in a fierce political battle for the election due early next year and the Commission now finds itself at the center of another political tug of war.
