Mynaguri, West Bengal, India March 25: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed grave concerns over alleged large-scale deletion of genuine voters from the electoral rolls, raising questions regarding the fairness and transparency of the upcoming elections.
Addressing a public gathering, Banerjee said, “There are serious concerns that genuine voters’ names have been deleted from the electoral rolls. This raises questions about the fairness and transparency of the election process. At the same time, questions are being raised about identity and citizenship — who is being recognised as a legitimate Indian voter and on what basis? The BJP has been asked to respond to this.”
She further alleged attempts to undermine democratic participation, stating, “They are trying to set up detention camps. I will never allow it — not even for the next generation.”
The Chief Minister also intensified her criticism of the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process is being misused in collusion with the BJP to strip citizens of their voting rights.“This ECI-BJP nexus wants to take away people’s voting rights. The ECI notification with the BJP symbol is not limited to Kerala; it clearly mentions ‘all states and UTs’. You cannot dismiss this as a clerical error,” Banerjee said.
She claimed that supplementary voter lists were not made available at the block and district levels, and alleged that deaths linked to the SIR process have crossed 200. “Why was the supplementary list published at night? Why is it still not displayed in blocks and districts? People remain unaware of their voting status. Even yesterday, two people committed suicide,” she added.
Banerjee further asserted that the inclusion of additional names in the supplementary voter lists only occurred following the intervention of the Supreme Court. She accused the Election Commission of delaying publication of the full voter list to allegedly benefit a particular political party.“Why did the ECI need 6–7 extra days to publish the list? Was this time used to add voters of a specific party? The truth will come out only when the full list is published,” she said.
She also declared that the ongoing SIR process will ultimately “end the BJP-ECI nexus permanently,” reiterating her demand for complete transparency in electoral procedures.
With state assembly elections approaching, Banerjee urged all political parties to join hands against what she described as “autocratic one-party rule” and the partisan deployment of central agencies. She emphasised that collective resistance is essential to safeguarding free and fair elections in the country.
About the Author
