TMC accuses Election Commission of leaking info to BJP leaders

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday accused the Election Commission of making 'selective leaks' to BJP leaders, and described the poll panel as an 'extended body' of the saffron camp.

At least 40 people, including four BLOs, lost their lives due to stress related to the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) in West Bengal in the past one month, the TMC claimed and alleged that EC was responsible for the deaths, and Chief Election Gyanesh Kumar has “blood in his hands”.

Addressing a press conference here, senior TMC leaders wondered how the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari “predicted” the number of phases of polls during the next year’s assembly elections and announced that names of one crore people will be removed in the ongoing SIR exercise.

Claiming that BJP leaders like Adhikari had stated that the state polls could be conducted in two to three phases instead of eight phases as had been done in 2021, senior minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, "If the EC is indeed autonomous, how can BJP leaders confidently speak about the number of phases or the timing of the SIR?" From day one, Suvendu Adhikari and other BJP leaders have created a sense of fear among common people by repeatedly claiming that one crore names will be removed from the voter list in the state, TMC MP Partha Bhowmik said.

“How did they know the figure? The EC, instead of answering our questions, is busy making selective leaks to the BJP’s propaganda machine. Instead of working as a neutral institution, EC is working as the BJP’s extended body,” Bhowmik said.

EC officials, however, said it could not comment on the claims made by political leaders.

Bhattacharya said that the TMC is not against the SIR, but against its “reckless and hasty implementation”.

Bhowmik alleged that Kumar "has blood on his hands," since he is the CEC and thus is responsible for over 40 SIR-related deaths in the past one month.

“What is even worse is that they have zero remorse for the people who died. Not one statement from the PM, Amit Shah, or Gyanesh Kumar expressing regret for the loss of lives. Their silence exposes their complicity," the minister said.

About the extension of SIR timeline, she said if the EC was so serious about this process, they should have started it a few months ago with substantial timeframe and planning.

“Why did they launch an unplanned exercise without training BLOs properly, without fixing app glitches, without ensuring internet access, and without cleaning up irregular voter lists?" she asked.