Kolkata, March 30 – Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in West Bengal on Monday and protested against what he alleged were widespread irregularities in voter registration, accusing BJP operatives of colluding with the Election Commission.
Speaking to the media after meeting the CEO at the office in Kolkata, Banerjee raised serious concerns over alleged irregularities in voter registration, claiming that the BJP was attempting to interfere with the state’s democratic process by submitting thousands of Form 6 applications to include outsiders from Bihar in West Bengal’s electoral rolls.
“Some Form 6 applications were submitted separately to the CEO’s office. A well-wisher sent us a video. On the second floor, Form 6 applications are kept in boxes. According to the rules, no one can submit more than 50 Form 6 applications. We have information that around 30,000 Form 6 applications were submitted. For Assembly constituencies like Barrackpore, Noapara, Egra, Shyampukur, and Chowrangee, Form 6 applications were submitted,” Banerjee said.
He added, “To submit such a large number of forms, at least 600 people would have had to be present. We requested CCTV footage. The CEO has no answers to our questions. This is an illegal activity. The same thing happened in Delhi, Maharashtra, and Haryana. When we met the full bench, I said that there was theft in the electoral roll. They are not following the Supreme Court’s orders. Today, we caught the EC red-handed. If any outsider tries to vote, the people of Bengal will respond.”
He further alleged that BJP IT Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, pressured the CEO to accept Form 6 applications.
“The BJP is changing the demographics in Bengal. The EC is also changing Bengal’s demographics. They are working in connivance to admit outsiders from Bihar into Bengal electoral rolls so that they can influence the voting here,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee also criticised the Election Commission for frequently transferring state government officials.
“Till now, elections are being held in other states within two weeks. How many officers were changed there? In Bengal, 395 officers have been changed. Bengal is being harassed. The Central government is looking at Bengal as Bangladesh. In Tripura, how many officers were changed?
“I heard that five people were changed in the CEO office today, and all of them are Bengali. If anyone wants a demographic change in Bengal, it is the BJP,” he said.
According to him, instances of "logical discrepancies" are being reported only in West Bengal. “There is nothing like logical discrepancies in Kerala, Bihar, or Uttar Pradesh. The BLOs were not properly trained. That is why we opposed this unplanned SIR,” he added.