Kolkata, Mar 10 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday lifted her dharna against the “flawed SIR” on its fifth day, saying the protest was being suspended temporarily after the Supreme Court ordered the setting up of an appellate mechanism regarding the voter list revision.
The dharna was lifted on a day when the full bench of the EC concluded its two-day visit to the state to review poll preparedness.
Welcoming the apex court’s move to set up the appellate authority, Banerjee said the “door totally closed by the EC” has now been opened, bringing a new ray of hope for the people whose names were deleted or under adjudication due to ‘logical discrepancy’ under the SIR.
The CM said she is calling off the dharna “temporarily”, saying the TMC will keep tabs on future developments.
Banerjee said her decision to “temporarily withdraw” the sit-in was also prompted by the request of Abhishek Banerjee, considered number two in the TMC hierarchy.
He urged her to call off the dharna “as she has been sitting on road side five days, in the wake of the Supreme Court order, and the EC full bench leaving the state.
The top court on Tuesday ordered setting up of independent appellate tribunals, headed by former high court judges, to hear appeals against exclusions from voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Addressing a gathering on the fifth day of the dharna, the TMC supremo said those citizens who will find their names missing in the electoral roll should not lose heart and can approach the tribunal even before the last day of voting.
“Today’s verdict is virtually a victory for the people of Bengal, for the TMC. If you see the video of the proceedings, not everything is spelt in the written order. But what I understood after talking to our legal team, the Supreme Court rebuked the EC, and it was clear that the EC tried to mislead the court,” she said.
The TMC supremo said that according to the top court’s order, one can go to the polling station on the last day of voting after approaching the tribunal and getting the issue addressed.
Those 58 lakh people deleted and those 60 lakh voters under adjudication can apply to the tribunal and get justice, she said.
Banerjee pointed out that the supplementary voter list is yet to be published by EC, and she is waiting for the outcome.
“In the observation, our lawyers were asked by the Supreme Court to inform it if genuine voters are deprived. So let us wait and hope for justice,” the CM said.
Claiming that more than 180 people died due to panic out of SIR in Bengal, many of them by suicide , she said, “Please remain strong if you don’t find your name in the list. The judicial officers are there; the tribunal is there. Our BLAs and other party functionaries are there. There is every possibility of your name having figured in the list finally.” Banerjee said she had filed a petition in the apex court not as a CM or lawyer but as a commoner.
“We have faith in the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and the judicial officers will perform their responsibility. And let’s wait for the next hearing of the case on March 25.
Coming down heavily on the BJP-Centre for hiking LPG prices, she demanded immediate rollback of the decision.
“The money you (BJP) spend on advertising could be spent on the LPG subsidy,” the TMC chief said.
“Don’t you (BJP) know that Kerosene is not available? How can people cook? Will they collect wood and use chullahs to cook? You know that is not feasible in this age,” she said.
Accusing the BJP government of destroying democracy, the Constitution and history, Banerjee asked why chargesheets should not be filed against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah “for their dangerous, divisive, secessionist game.” “What is their problem if everyone, cutting across caste, community and religion stay together? Why do they want to divide people and harass citizens of this country in the name of the SIR exercise and CAA? I don’t have any issue with SIR if it had been done properly, taking adequate time. How many dead bodies does this BJP want to see to serve their narrow political interest?” she said.
In a jibe at Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, Banerjee said the man who announced plans to crack down on the sale of fish and meat is now put up in the same hotel in Kolkata, where the CEC had stayed.
The chief minister, however, did not identify anyone by name.
“He is staying in the hotel along with other BJP leaders who want to take away our rights to consume fish and meat. They want to impose their diktat on what we should eat and what we should wear. People of Bengal will never accept such forces,” she said. PTI SUS BSM NN
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