Kolkata, Nov 4 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the fall of the BJP-led government at the Centre would be inevitable if a single eligible voter was omitted from the rolls, and accused the saffron party and the EC of using the SIR as a political tool to intimidate voters before the 2026 assembly polls.
Leading a massive anti-SIR rally in Kolkata, Banerjee charged the Election Commission (EC) of selectively conducting the revision drive in opposition-ruled states while sparing BJP-ruled ones.
“The EC is conducting SIR in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but not in BJP-ruled Assam,” the TMC chief alleged.
In these four states, the assembly elections are due next year.
“The Election Commission must also reply why there is no SIR in BJP-ruled Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states,” she demanded, calling it “clear discrimination aimed at helping the ruling party at the Centre.” The last SIR in West Bengal in 2002 took at least two years to be completed, she said, and wondered why the EC is “in a hurry” to finish it this time in just a month.
Banerjee branded the current exercise “hurried and politically motivated”.
“If a single eligible voter is removed from the electoral rolls, we will ensure the fall of this BJP government,” Banerjee declared to thunderous applause from her supporters.
Challenging the BJP’s repeated claims of “illegal voters” in West Bengal, Banerjee asked, “How many Rohingyas or Bangladeshis were found in Bihar after the SIR there?” She asserted that just speaking in Bengali doesn’t make someone a Bangladeshi, accusing the saffron party of spreading fake news and communal propaganda to malign Bengalis.
Taking a swipe at the saffron party, the TMC supremo said, “The BJP does not want to win on the basis of votes, but on the strength of notes. If this electoral rolls is fake, then how did the BJP win previous elections held on the basis of the same list?” Banerjee alleged that SIR stands for “silent, invisible rigging” and the BJP is using it to instill fear among voters.
“Do we have to prove our citizenship before the BJP after being born and brought up in this land?” she asked, evoking strong support from the crowd.
Banerjee, who was accompanied by her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during the protest march, said the TMC would take the fight to Delhi if needed. PTI PNT NN
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