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Kolkata, Nov 4 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of deliberately keeping poll-bound Assam out of the ambit of the Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise because the northeastern state is ruled by the BJP.
Opposing the SIR, the Chief Minister said at the end of a mega rally in Kolkata, “Assembly elections are scheduled for the four states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. But the Commission announced SIR only for the three opposition-ruled states, not in Assam. If you have the right, you should first hold SIR in north-east India.”
According to him, BJP is ‘scared’ of Bengalis because it knows very well that they will never bow down to its ‘pressure tactics’.
“They were able to win elections in some other states by using these pressure tactics. But they were successful in doing so in West Bengal. So this time they are desperate to gain power in the state by removing the names of many genuine voters in the name of SIR,” he said.
According to him, “If the current voter list is faulty, then the central government also has no sanctity, as the NDA was elected in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which were conducted on the basis of the current voter list.”
He also attacked the ECI for its “reluctance” in accepting Aadhaar card as a valid document in the SIR. “If so, then why did you collect money to give Aadhaar cards to people? Why insist on linking Aadhaar cards with people’s bank accounts?” The Chief Minister asked the question.
He also said that the only objective of the present central government is to harass the people. “First, they harassed people through demonetisation.
“Many people died in queues in front of bank branches. They claimed that demonetisation was necessary to bring in black money. But it did not happen,” the Chief Minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, Trinamool Congress general secretary and party’s Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee said that the 2026 West Bengal elections will primarily be a fight to defeat the BJP and not just ensure the victory of the Trinamool Congress.
“We will not succumb to New Delhi’s pressure tactics. If the name of even a single genuine voter is removed from the voter list after the SIR, the Trinamool Congress will take the agitation to the national capital,” he said.
Notably, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had recently said that the citizenship rule is different in Assam; Therefore, separate amendment orders will be issued for the state.
–IANS
source/svn