Kolkata, Mar 13 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit West Bengal on Saturday to address a rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground here and inaugurate development projects worth around Rs 18,680 crore, in what will be his first trip to the state after the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls on February 28.
The rally, organised by the BJP, will mark the culmination of the party’s statewide Parivartan Yatra campaign ahead of the Assembly election.
After the surge in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the setback in the 2021 Assembly election, the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra is seen as its most expansive statewide mobilisation in recent years.
The yatra, which began on March 1, a day after the publication of the revised electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), crisscrossed nearly 10,000 km across the state.
Party leaders describe it as both a mass-contact exercise and an organisational stress test aimed at converting booth-level groundwork into visible street mobilisation.
According to official data released on February 28, following the SIR exercise, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the revision process began in November last year, reducing the voter base in the state from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, more than 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the “under adjudication” category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks.
Modi’s visit also comes amid reports that the Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the elections next week.
During the visit, the prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate and lay foundation stones for development projects spanning road infrastructure, railways, port and shipping sectors.
In a major push for road connectivity, Modi will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for several national highway projects with a combined length of over 420 km, worth around Rs 16,990 crore.
The projects include sections of NH-19 in West Bengal and Jharkhand and NH-114 in West Bengal, aimed at enhancing road safety, reducing travel time and improving regional connectivity.
He will also lay the foundation stone for several new highway projects, including five packages of the 231-km four-lane Kharagpur-Moregram economic corridor section of NH-116A.
In the railway sector, the prime minister will inaugurate six redeveloped railway stations in the state under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, aimed at modernising passenger amenities and infrastructure.
Saturday’s rally will also mark Modi’s first public meeting at the Brigade Parade Ground since his campaign address there ahead of the 2021 Assembly election. PTI PNT MNB
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