Mamata says EC officers threatening West Bengal govt. officers

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has once more raised her pitch in opposition to the particular intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged that Election Commission (EC) officers had been “threatening” officers of her authorities and “performing beneath political affect” even earlier than the announcement of Assembly ballot dates.

Speaking on the State Secretariat, Ms. Banerjee stated she won’t tolerate such a state of affairs. She additionally accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “taking part in with fireplace” within the title of SIR. “There are makes an attempt to conduct a National Register of Citizens (NRC) within the garb of SIR within the State,” Ms. Banerjee stated.

‘NRC in disguise’

Ms. Banerjee stated notices from the Foreigners’ Tribunals of Assam are being issued to residents of West Bengal amid the competition season. “This SIR will not be what it seems. It is getting used as a canopy to hold out an NRC-type course of in West Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee stated.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari stated the names of about one crore voters can be deleted if the SIR is carried out correctly in West Bengal.

Addressing a press convention, Mr. Adhikari stated there was a change in demography within the districts of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh due to the unwillingness of the Trinamool Congress authorities to provide land to BSF to erect barbed wire fencing. He claimed that 540 km of border with Bangladesh is mendacity unfenced.

Mr. Adhikari claimed that the common nationwide price of progress of voters between 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2024 Lok Sabha polls was 7% whereas the speed of improve of voters in sure Assembly constituencies of West Bengal was nicely above the nationwide common. He stated the rise of voters in Rajarhat Gopalpur Assembly seat was 28%, Domkal 30% and Jalangi 28%.

While Rajarhat is situated in north jap fringes of Kolkata, Domkal and Jalangi Assembly seats are in State’s Murshidabad district. The BJP chief additionally expressed issues over the safety of BLO ( Block Level Officers) through the SIR within the State.

Meanwhile, the EC has stepped up actions for conducting SIR with a collection of conferences over the previous few days. On Wednesday, a crew from the ECI led by Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti assessed the State’s readiness for conducting SIR. The ECI crew held a collection of conferences in Kolkata, Rajarhat-Gopalpur, and Barasat with District Electoral Officers and Booth Level Officers (BLOs). On Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal Manoj Agarwal held a gathering with officers of three districts.

Speaking to journalists, Mr. Agarwal stated these conferences are to evaluate SIR preparedness within the State. . The CEO didn’t say as to how a lot time it’s going to take to conduct it however added that the train have to be accomplished earlier than the announcement of the Assembly election. Mr. Agarwal stated that the train was accomplished in three months in Bihar.

Sources within the workplace of the CEO stated the notification for holding SIR within the State is predicted anytime later this month. West Bengal will go for Assembly election in 2026.