Kolkata, March 10 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called off her protest against the "flawed SIR" on the fifth day, stating that the demonstration was being temporarily suspended following the Supreme Court's order to establish an appellate mechanism regarding the revision of the voter list.
The protest was called off on a day when the full bench of the EC concluded its two-day visit to the state to review poll preparedness.
Welcoming the apex court's move to set up the appellate authority, Banerjee said that the door closed by the EC has now been opened, bringing a new ray of hope for the people whose names were deleted or under adjudication due to a logical discrepancy under SIR.
The CM said she is calling off the dharna "temporarily", stating that the TMC will keep a close watch on future developments.
"We had launched the dharna for two reasons — the arbitrary deletion of names and to ensure that genuine voters get their names restored in the electoral rolls," she said.
The chief minister said that she had filed a petition in the Supreme Court as a "common citizen" and not in her official capacity, expressing hope that the judiciary would ensure that genuine voters are not removed from the electoral rolls.
"The Supreme Court's decision has opened the door for justice and brought a new ray of hope for the people whose names were deleted or under adjudication due to a logical discrepancy under SIR," she said.
The top court on Tuesday ordered the establishment of independent appellate tribunals, headed by former high court judges, to hear appeals against exclusions from voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
The TMC supremo alleged that the responses of the Election Commission on the issue appeared to be influenced by the BJP, and demanded justice for all communities, including Matua, Muslim, Christian and Adivasi.
Coming down heavily on the BJP-led Centre for hiking LPG prices, she said that the money being spent on advertising could be used as a subsidy on cooking gas.