Kolkata, April 5 Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee said on Sunday that his party is providing all assistance to genuine voters whose names do not appear in the supplementary lists of electoral rolls in poll-bound West Bengal in order to ensure their voting rights.
Banerjee, who was addressing a poll rally in Satgachia in South 24 Parganas district, said that while in a democracy, the people decide about government formation, the BJP and the Election Commission have created a situation where "the government is deciding who will be allowed to vote".
The TMC national general secretary said that those who find their names missing in the voter rolls and supplementary lists, following the SIR exercise in the state, can submit their details along with documents to party functionaries so that online applications can be made to the EC by midnight.
When a man attending the rally told Banerjee that his name was missing, he told him, "Our camp is located here. You submit all the details to our representatives. We will ensure that not a single eligible voter's name is omitted."
Banerjee said the TMC believes in the founding principles of the Constitution that there should not be any Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian division in the preparation of electoral rolls for every bonafide citizen of the country who has voted in previous polls.
"Go for SIR or FIR. You (BJP) will not get more than 50 seats," Banerjee asserted, implying that whether the saffron party conducts the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls through the EC or lodges FIRs against political opponents on trumped-up charges, "the poll outcome will be the same".
He reiterated that Mamata Banerjee was the “only” chief minister in the country who represented people whose names were deleted during the SIR process, in court.
Accusing the BJP of using central agencies to harass political opponents, he said that in 2019-21, "(PM) Narendra Modi had visited the Diamond Harbour constituency repeatedly and threatened to put me behind bars on false charges. He had also threatened to close down our party office here. What happened afterwards? BJP was rejected by the people."
"I call upon Modi to present his report card of 12 years on what he did for his Varanasi constituency, and I will present my report card about what I did for Diamond Harbour, as both of us had first contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2014," Banerjee said.
At an earlier election meeting in Raina in Purba Bardhaman district, he alleged that the Centre was “blocking” the state's dues for the past five years, to make the poor people of West Bengal starve "in order to vote the TMC to power in successive assembly polls".
"The Centre has not released more than Rs 1 lakh crore dues for the state's projects," Banerjee claimed.
"The TMC wants a smile on your face, while Modi wants to see tears in your eyes as you had rejected the BJP in successive polls. Give the anti-Bengal party a befitting reply to such a conspiracy," he asserted.
On the LPG crisis in the wake of the West Asia conflict, he charged the Centre with aggravating the situation, forcing the common man to shell out Rs 2,500-3,000 to buy one cylinder, and "making tall claims about mitigating the situation".
"From Rs 400 in 2014, their policy led to the escalation of the LPG price to Rs 1,000. But, PM Modi has no concern. The petrol price has soared from Rs 50 a litre to Rs 100, and it will skyrocket after the assembly polls. Mark my words," Banerjee said.
The TMC leader also said that after “coming to power for the fourth time” in the state, the government will set up cold storages to preserve potatoes and other agricultural products in the agrarian belt.
At another meeting in Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee dared "those trying to weaken the TMC and holding secret meetings at night with our adversaries, to prepare for the consequences on May 4, after the declaration of results".
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases - on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.