West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday blamed former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the deletion of 27 lakh names from the state’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision, asserting that neither the BJP nor the Election Commission could be held responsible for the exclusions.
Supreme Court Directives Lead to Controversial Deletions
Adhikari has claimed that the recent deletions were executed by judicial officers following orders from the Supreme Court, stemming from a case initiated by Banerjee. He accused Banerjee of trying to deflect responsibility after her defeat in the Assembly elections.
The chief minister’s jibe came a day after Banerjee addressed a rally at Serampore and launched a fresh attack on the Election Commission and the BJP over the voter-roll revision. The chief minister’s remarks came amid a renewed political confrontation over the SIR exercise, with Banerjee’s party alleging that genuine voters had been removed from the electoral rolls and demanding their restoration. “If SIR is good in Kerala, why is it bad in West Bengal? Adhikari also referred to Saturday’s meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and two Election Commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — claiming that the meeting and the poll panel’s subsequent statement showed that decisions relating to the Bengal SIR had not been taken by the CEC alone.
“The responsibility for the deletion of 27 lakh names lies with Mamata Banerjee, not the BJP or the Election Commission. We have won 208 seats, while the two sides (TMC and its allies) have 80.
Judicial officers took the decision following the Supreme Court’s directions in a case filed by her,” Adhikari said at a press conference here. Mamata Banerjee is unable to accept the people’s verdict,” he said.
