Mamata vows to support citizens wrongly excluded from voter list
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday vowed to continue her fight against the omission of citizens’ names in the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SIR), saying she apprehended that there is a conspiracy to delete over 80 lakh names, citing logical discrepancies.
Noting that 58 lakh names of voters were omitted after the first phase of the SIR exercise, Banerjee said, “By the name of logical discrepancies, at least 20 lakh more genuine voters were surreptitiously left out by February 14”.
There is a conspiracy to remove 80 lakh names from the final electoral rolls by deleting an additional two lakh voters, she alleged while addressing a gathering after inaugurating several projects from her Bhawanipore constituency in the city.
Banerjee said she had gone to the Supreme Court to take up the issue of the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s move to delete names of lakhs of voters and, despite the SC’s order, the poll panel has not stopped its “diabolical gameplan” by regularly issuing new directives on WhatsApp.
“I want justice. I don’t want to see whether those citizens left out of the rolls are (voters of) the TMC, Congress, CPI(M) or the BJP. I am against the deletion of anyone’s name... It does not matter to me whether the victims are Hindus or Muslims, or members of any other community. I will pray for them, stand by them and fight for them. I want to say live and let live,” she said.
On the cosmopolitan culture of Bhawanipore, the chief minister said that members of various communities live in the constituency peacefully and celebrate their festivals together.
Underscoring her commitment to every community, she said, “I understand Gujarati, Assamese, Odiya etc. Some words are different, but the warmth, love and bonding are the same; the spirit is the same. I also relish roti, chapati, litti from Bihar, dhokla from Gujarat and other delicacies. In Bengal, we respect all languages, religions, customs, culture and food habits.”
