Mamata Banerjee targeted Gyanesh Kumar, comparing his conduct to that of former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday held an acrimonious meeting with the Election Commission in Delhi over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with the Trinamool Congress chief accusing chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of “insulting, disrespecting and humiliating” her.
Wearing black shawls as a mark of protest, Banerjee, accompanied by party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, MP Kalyan Banerjee, and eight people allegedly affected by SIR, walked out of the meeting about an hour after it began.
“We boycotted the CEC and walked out. We were insulted, disrespected and humiliated. I have never seen this kind of CEC. He is very arrogant. He behaved so badly with us. We meet him to get justice. We never got justice. You are doing injustice. He is a great liar. All are garbage of lies,” Banerjee told reporters after coming out of Nirvachan Sadan.
Banerjee targeted Kumar, comparing his conduct to that of former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. “Today you are acting on BJP’s orders. Dhankhar also acted in the same way. He was the Governor of our state who always used to oppose us. We used to respect him. But there is a ‘Laxman Rekha’. Your fate would be the same as Dhankhar. You are not including voters in the electoral roll. You are deleting their names,” she said.
“You can save your chair today. You won’t be able to save it tomorrow (in future). I have seen many CECs – SY Quraishi and TN Seshan. They were very strong. They never became a parrot for any political party,” she added.
The EC said the CEC told the delegation that the rule of law will prevail and that any intimidation, obstruction or interference in SIR work would be dealt with strictly.
The commission flagged alleged threats against election officials, incidents of vandalism at electoral registration officer’s premises, unauthorised transfers of electoral roll observers, failure to act against officials accused of data security violations, and delays in payment of booth-level officer honorariums with only ₹7,000 of the approved ₹18,000 released so far.
“A TMC delegation led by Banerjee, met the commission and raised certain issues relating to the ongoing SIR in WB… TMC MLAs are openly using abusive and threatening language against the Commission and especially against the CEC. Also threatening the election officials. There have been incidents of vandalisation of the ERO offices by TMC workers and MLAs. No pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR work,” the poll panel said in a statement.
The SIR began in Bengal in November last year and the draft rolls shed 5.82 million names, the deletion percentage of 7.6% being the lowest among states that go to the polls this summer. Among the 12 regions where the process is underway, the most protests and controversies have been recorded in Bengal, where the ruling TMC is staunchly opposed to SIR and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named infiltration as a key poll plank.
Banerjee has written five letters to the CEC, convened review meetings with district administrations, and instructed party workers to help affected voters file claims and objections, warning that technical glitches and procedural lapses could distort electoral rolls before polls. EC has denied the allegations.
The TMC took at least 100 families of booth-level officers and electors who died by suicide or suffered cardiac arrest allegedly due to SIR and also those declared dead despite being alive, to Delhi. Eight of these families were a part of the TMC delegation which met the CEC.
Asked whether the TMC will boycott the assembly elections, Banerjee said, “We will never boycott the election. I will never commit this blunder. We will fight it out. They have taken over the government at least six months before the assembly elections. They are not allowing the government to work. They are behaving as if President’s Rule has been imposed in the state. Bengal is being targeted,”
