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Kolkata, Nov 1 (IANS) Trinamool Congress will hold a mega rally in Kolkata on Tuesday to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. Incidentally, the first phase of the three-stage vetting process will also begin in West Bengal on the same day.
In the first phase, booth-level officers (BLOs) will visit every household with the enumeration forms to verify voter details.
The anti-SIR rally will start from the base of the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar on Red Road in central Kolkata and end in front of the ancestral residence of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko in North Kolkata.
“The rally will start at 2.30 pm. It will be led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and party general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee,” a member of the West Bengal Cabinet said.
According to him, two persons have already committed suicide in the state, and another has attempted suicide, reportedly out of fear that their names would be removed from the voter list after the SIR exercise.
The cabinet member said, “The BJP is trying to create an atmosphere of fear in the state in the name of SIR. That’s why we have chosen Tuesday for the rally, because on that day the ground work to implement the amendment exercise will begin. Our one-point demand is that not even a single genuine voter’s name should be removed from the voter list.”
On the same day, opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari will lead a BJP rally in Panihati in North 24 Parganas district to counter Trinamool Congress’s allegations.
The BJP’s rally will highlight what it says is Trinamool Congress’s attempt to spread panic and misconceptions about the amendment process.
Earlier this week, Panihati resident Pradeep Kar (57) allegedly committed suicide due to fear of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). However, the BJP has questioned the cause of death and accused the Trinamool Congress of misleading the public over the tragedy.
–IANS
Source/PGH