Kolkata, March 1 – The Trinamool Congress protested in Hasnabad, North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, over the "deliberate" removal of names from the final voter list, police said on Sunday.
On Saturday night, Trinamool Congress' local leaders and activists set tires on fire on the road and raised slogans against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The protesters also burned an effigy of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
The Lebukhali Road was blocked due to the protest. Traffic was also disrupted. Later, the police arrived and brought the situation under control.
Trinamool Congress leaders and activists claimed that the names of valid voters have been "deliberately removed" from the voter list.
"The ECI has selectively targeted booths with a majority of minority voters and removed their names. The names of about 400 minority voters in booth number 111 of Sahapur have been removed from the final list. This conspiracy by the BJP and the Election Commission will not be accepted under any circumstances," the Trinamool Congress alleged.
The final voter list was published in West Bengal on Saturday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. And as soon as that list came out, anger and protests spread to different parts of the state.
The names of 16,125 voters have been omitted from Basirhat subdivision. The area in Hasnabad where the protest occurred due to the omission of names also falls under the Basirhat South Assembly constituency.
According to local sources, out of a total of 1,065 people in booth number 111 of Sahapur under Basirhat South Assembly, 400 were shown as 'deleted' in the final voters' list.
Shahjahan Moral, president of booth number 111 in Sahapur, told local reporters, "The names of about 400 minorities in this booth have been omitted from the voter list published by the Election Commission. However, the names of 120 Hindu voters are there. This was done because it is a minority-dominated booth. We have taken to the streets to protest against this."
Responding to allegations, Palash Sarkar, president of the BJP's Basirhat organisational district youth wing, said, "No matter how much the Trinamool takes to the streets to protest or takes to the streets in opposition to the SIR, I want to make it clear that only the names of legal voters will be there. The Trinamool is very angry because the names of illegal voters are excluded from the list which constitute its vote bank."
