Keeping Assam out of SIR is BJP’s ploy to save its ruled state: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS) Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday questioned the logic behind keeping Assam out of the purview of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls even as north-eastern states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala go to the polls next year.

“Assembly elections are also due next year in Assam and that state also shares international borders. But why has Assam been kept out of the ambit of the SIR? This is clearly a ploy by the BJP to exclude the state ruled by them from the amendment exercise,” Banerjee told media persons in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Reacting to the comment, the state BJP leadership said there was no need to react to the Trinamool leader’s comments as Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had already on Monday made clear the reasons for keeping Assam out of the SIR exercise.

Banerjee further alleged that while earlier citizens chose the government, the current ruling party at the Center is attempting to reverse the process “so that the government can choose its own voters.”

He said, “Their aim is not to make the voter list error-free. In fact, SIR stands for ‘Silent Invisible Rigging’. The last time such a revision was done in West Bengal, it took almost two years to complete the exercise. Now, they are claiming that it will be completed in just two months.”

The Trinamool Congress leader claimed that if the real objective is to prepare an error-free voter list, then the revision should be done in sufficient period and not in a hurry. “The real intention is to remove names of genuine voters from the list under the guise of amendment,” Banerjee alleged.

He also warned that if the names of actual voters were removed after the SIR exercise, the Trinamool Congress would launch a protest outside the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi.

Referring to the recent suicide of a 57-year-old man named Pradeep Kar in Panihati in North 24 Parganas district over the fear of being affected by the possible National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal, Banerjee blamed the central government and the ECI for creating panic among citizens.

Banerjee said, “Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar are responsible for this tragedy. FIR should be lodged against them. BJP will have to pay the price.”

–IANS

Source/PGH