NEW DELHI: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation in its meeting with Election Commission on Friday alleged that there have been 40 deaths, including those of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, so far, in West Bengal, and accused chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his two colleagues of “having blood on their hands”.TMC leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’ Brien, who led the delegation, told reporters that it raised five questions, but “did not get any answers”, even as the CEC spoke for an hour. The TMC leader said his party was not opposed to the concept of SIR, but was against the “unplanned manner” and “heartless” way in which EC was executing it.Another member of the delegation, Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra claimed that EC dismissed the submissions on “SIR-related deaths” as mere allegations. “Does EC or the CEC take responsibility for the deaths of BLOs?” TMC asked as it alleged that across several states, numerous BLOs have lost their lives while carrying out their SIR duties. These include cases of BLOs who have been forced to commit suicide, the Mamata Banerjee-led party alleged, citing the “inhuman pressure” by EC.TMC accused EC of anti-West Bengal bias and asked that if the true intent of SIR was to remove illegal immigrants from the voters’ list, why was Bengal the only border state under scrutiny. Why is the exercise watered down as a “special revision” in Assam and non-existent in other border states of the Northeast, and is SIR meant to “protect the voters’ list or to cast doubt on the very identity of Bengalis” and push them out of it, TMC asked. The party sought to know how many non-citizens were eradicated from the rolls in Bihar after the SIR exercises in the state.TMC also asked EC that if the electoral rolls were good enough for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, then why have these been dubbed “unreliable”. “Why not dissolve the Lok Sabha that was elected by these “unreliable voters,” it said.The TMC has also questioned the neutrality of the SIR process and alleged that when BJP raises a frivolous issue, it is taken up with utmost seriousness. It alleged that sacrosanct rules like the Model Code of Conduct have been tampered with in Bihar to help BJP.“In Bengal, BJP leaders are claiming that one crore voters’ names will be deleted from the rolls. EC has taken no cognizance of these comments, nor has it negated the fear mongering by BJP,” TMC alleged.Later in the evening, TMC parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee alleged that EC is “deliberately planting selective leaks to falsely claim that it has provided a point-by-point rebuttal” to the issues raised by the party. “These assertions are not just misleading, they are outright lies,” he alleged.
