Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Mar 6: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday began a sit-in protest in Kolkata, alleging a conspiracy between the BJP and the Election Commission of India to disenfranchise voters in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
Launching the protest at Esplanade Metro Channel in central Kolkata, Banerjee said she would expose what she described as a “BJP-EC conspiracy” to remove genuine voters from the electoral rolls. She also announced that voters who have allegedly been declared dead by the Election Commission would be presented before the public in Kolkata.
The protest was organised by the ruling All India Trinamool Congress just two days before the scheduled visit of the full bench of the Election Commission to West Bengal.
The sit-in, which began at 2 pm, had earlier been announced by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. He had accused the Election Commission of conducting a “politically motivated” exercise that could deprive lakhs of legitimate voters of their voting rights months ahead of the assembly elections.
The protest comes amid heightened political tensions following the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls, which have significantly altered the contours of the state’s electorate.
According to official data released on February 28, about 63.66 lakh names, nearly 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from around 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, more than 60.06 lakh electors have been placed in the “under adjudication” category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks, a move that could further impact constituency-level electoral equations.
TMC leaders have alleged that minority voters, migrant workers and economically marginalised sections have been disproportionately affected by the deletions.
Abhishek Banerjee had earlier intensified his attack on the Election Commission, claiming that the “target of deleting over one crore voters was decided even before the exercise began.”