West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has blamed former CM Mamata Banerjee for the deletion of around 27 lakh names from the state’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), rejecting allegations that the BJP or the Election Commission was responsible.Adhikari claimed the deletions were ordered by judicial officers following directions from the Supreme Court in a case filed by Banerjee herself. He accused the TMC leader of trying to shift responsibility after her defeat in the Assembly elections.“The responsibility for the deletion of 27 lakh names lies with Mamata Banerjee, not the BJP or the Election Commission. Judicial officers took the decision following the Supreme Court’s directions in a case filed by her,” Adhikari said at a press conference.The Election Commission has said 22.21 lakh of the deleted voters had filed appeals seeking their names to be restored. More than 38 lakh appeals have been filed in total against both exclusions and inclusions during the SIR process.
Politics over voter rolls
The SIR exercise has become a major political flashpoint in Bengal. The TMC has alleged that genuine voters were removed from the rolls and has demanded that their names be restored.Adhikari, meanwhile, sought to contrast Bengal with Kerala, where the revision exercise has also taken place.“If SIR is good in Kerala, why is it bad in West Bengal? We have won 208 seats, while the two sides (TMC and its allies) have 80. Mamata Banerjee is unable to accept the people’s verdict,” he said.His comments came a day after Banerjee addressed a rally in Serampore and renewed her criticism of the Election Commission and the BJP over the voter-roll revision.
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Questions over election commission
Adhikari also referred to a meeting between Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.He said the meeting and the poll panel’s subsequent statement showed that decisions concerning Bengal’s SIR were not taken by the CEC alone.The issue comes amid scrutiny of the functioning of the three-member Election Commission. An Indian Express investigation reported that the two election commissioners had raised objections on several occasions over decisions linked to the SIR exercise.The Election Commission has maintained that differences during internal discussions are normal and that its final decisions on the exercise were unanimous.
