EC deleted 54 lakh 'genuine voters' in Bengal without giving them chance to defend themselves: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that the 54 lakh names, which were deleted from the draft rolls during the SIR in the state, were done unilaterally by the Election Commission which "misused" powers of electoral registration officers (EROs) to get the job done.

Upping the ante against the EC amid the ongoing and contentious SIR exercise in the state, Banerjee alleged that a bulk of the deleted voters were "genuine electors", who were not allowed to defend themselves because they weren't even apprised of the grounds of deletion.

"The EC, while sitting in Delhi, used AI tools devised by the BJP to delete names. These AI software accounted for the names mismatch in SIR data. They deleted names of women who changed surnames post marriage. They have also 'killed' many voters across the state who are still living," Banerjee alleged, while addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna.

These EROs were given responsibilities for the 54 lakh name deletions, whereas in many instances, these officers weren't even aware that the marked names were being removed, she added.

The chief minister has already written five letters to the Chief Election Commissioner Ganesh Kumar complaining of anomalies, unilateral decisions and digitisation errors in electoral rolls accounting for hardships faced by electors in the state.

Claiming that 'logical discrepancy' was not part of the original SIR verification process, and that it was "included as an afterthought to add to deletions", Banerjee said on Tuesday that the "BJP-EC nexus" was planning to remove another one crore names from the final rolls.

"The commission has earmarked another 1.36 crore voters for verification hearings on grounds of logical discrepancy. Eminent personalities like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, poet Joy Goswami, cricketers Md Shami and Laxmi Ratan Shukla are part of that list. This list was created so that one crore voters could be removed," the chief minister said.

She accused the EC of working hand-in-hand with the BJP in conducting the SIR exercise in a manner that would aid the saffron camp on the ground.

"The EC has not allowed BLA-2s to attend hearings because the BJP couldn't amass its workers to do the job," Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said.

Challenging the deployment of micro-observers in the state to oversee the ongoing hearing phase of SIR, the CM accused the Commission of going beyond its own rules to conduct the exercise.

"The use of micro-observers is not allowed as per SIR rules; why are they being deployed only in Bengal and no other state?" she asked.

Banerjee maintained that people are not obliged to listen to micro-observers, who are "acting like BJP stooges", since they are external to the original SIR rules.

"The BJP, with aid from the Commission, deployed the same anomaly tactics in Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar to win elections in those states. Only, the opposition parties there couldn't catch those tricks on time," she claimed.

Holding up a purported photo of a bunch of forms at the boot of a car, Banerjee alleged that the BJP and its agencies were caught red-handed in various pockets of the state transporting SIR forms in bulk for deletion in Bankura and in Malda districts.

Earlier in the day, the police detained two people from a vehicle headed from Taldangra to Khatra in Bankura and recovered a large bunch of filled up Form 7s its boot. Form 7 is the application to EC for citing objections against inclusion of the name of a person in electoral rolls or seeking deletion of self or any other person's names from the rolls on grounds of death or shifting.

The car, allegedly belonging to a BJP worker, was apprehended by local TMC activists after they grew suspicious of its movement, police said. While three passengers managed to flee the vehicle, an FIR was lodged at the Khatra police station, they added.

"Isn't this a theft of information, right and democracy?" the CM asked.

"I ask my party BLAs to stay vigilant of this political conspiracy in their respective areas. I also ask the police to remain alert about such suspicious movements since miscreants may also transport arms in their vehicles threatening the safety of people of this state," she added.

Banerjee also alleged that the EC was being run on WhatsApp instructions which kept changing multiple times during the course of the day. She claimed that the decision to extend the hearing deadline to Jan 14 was also conveyed to officials over the same social media platform by the ECI.

Accusing the poll body of maintaining "double standards" for the exercise, the TMC chief said, "Domicile certificates were accepted as valid citizenship documents in Bihar, but not in Bengal. Who is instructing them to do this from behind the scenes?" she questioned.