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New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) Former West Bengal ruling Trinamool Congress MP and retired bureaucrat Jawahar Sarkar has stressed on removing names of duplicate, dead, missing and fake voters from the state’s voter list, claiming that the number could be anywhere between 70 lakh to 1.25 crore.
The known Trinamool opponent was reacting to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking the Election Commission to immediately stop the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking to the media in Siliguri on an administrative visit on Monday, CM Mamata Banerjee announced that she would stand by the voters of the state to “protect the rights” of them, even if it means “killing their throats” for protesting against the practice.
Insisting that no genuine voter’s name should be removed, the government said on social media platform Facebook, “But taking into account the 0.83% statistical rate of population growth, the 2002 voter list of 4.58 crore may go up to a maximum of 6 crore – not 7.64 crore as the 2025 list shows.”
“Therefore, the names of duplicate, dead, missing, false voters should be removed – which could range from 70 lakh to 1 crore or even 1.25 crore,” he said.
After this, while ending his post he said, ‘Then new voters will have to be included.’
The Chief Minister had earlier linked SIR to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process and claimed that SIR would disenfranchise two crore voters in the state and put many of them in detention camps.
The specific numbers and comparison surprised many in his state. The SIR process has been initiated in West Bengal as assembly elections in the state are expected to be held in the first half of 2026.
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of the Election Commission, along with representatives of political parties (Booth Level Agents), are currently going door-to-door to compare the voter list of 2002 with the voter list published in January 2025.
Such an exercise was last conducted in West Bengal in 2002. Ever since the Election Commission announced its implementation, following its completion in nearby Bihar, the process has been turned into a political game of narratives by ruling and opposition party workers alike – spreading rumors and uncertainty, leading to panic, even allegedly resulting in deaths by suicide.
Despite the tension being created, efforts are being made by the leaders to make SIR a political weapon in all parts of West Bengal.
Sarkar, now a well-known Trinamool opponent, was an IAS officer with nearly four decades of experience in both the Center and West Bengal. He has been the country’s longest serving Culture Secretary and, later, was the CEO of Prasar Bharati, India’s public broadcaster which manages Doordarshan and All India Radio.
In August 2021, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool candidate. However, three years later, he resigned in protest against the stance of the West Bengal government following the gruesome rape and murder of a medical intern at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
He had criticized Trinamool for the way it dealt with the protesters who took to the streets of West Bengal to raise their voice against the incident. Now living in Kolkata, he has decided to completely stay away from active politics.
–IANS
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