Kolkata, April 7 – West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday over the special intensive revision (SIR) in West Bengal, accusing the Commission of targeting not only ordinary citizens but also members of various religious and charitable organizations.
The Chief Minister addressed three campaign rallies in the Nadia and North 24 Parganas districts. In two of the rallies, she specifically named the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, and the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, while attacking the Commission.
She expressed her sadness at hearing that the names of 300 individuals associated with the Missionaries of Charity had been deleted during the SIR exercise.
"Even the monks of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission were not spared," she added.
According to her, the Commission specifically targeted districts with a large population of minority and socially backward communities during the SIR exercise, with the maximum number of names being deleted from these areas.
She stated that the maximum deletions had taken place in districts such as Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, and Nadia.
"In the Bangaon subdivision of North 24 Parganas, people from the Matua community had been targeted. Areas like Chakdaha and Haringhata in Nadia and Gaighata in North 24 Parganas witnessed a high number of deletions from the voter list," she added.
The Chief Minister also accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of having a clandestine understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party in several assembly constituencies.
She said that CPI(M) leaders knew they would not win and would try to ensure the BJP's victory by dividing the votes against the BJP.
She added that CPI(M) leaders were resorting to tall talk even after being reduced to zero in the 2021 assembly polls and should be reduced to zero again this time.
Speaking at the event, she said that the Trinamool Congress would provide all necessary assistance to voters whose names had been deleted, so that they could regain their voting rights by approaching the Appellate Tribunals constituted for that purpose.
She alleged that the only aim of the BJP and the Commission was to selectively delete voters' names and asserted that she would never allow them to succeed in that mission.