New Delhi: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “vanishing” the rights of voters and claimed that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was used to alter the electoral process in the state.
SIR had effectively become a “special incentive for the ruling party”, she said at a press conference.
“Gyanesh Kumar gifted the BJP 150 seats out of 208. I call him ‘Vanish Kumar’ because Gyanesh Kumar ordered the rights of voters across the country to vanish,” Mamata said, demanding the release of the election records and CCTV footage of Bengal polls.
Over 27 lakh voters found ineligible after the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal. In August, the Supreme Court was informed that only seven lakh of them had filed appeals seeking inclusion in the electoral rolls.
The CEC and EC director general (IT) Seema Khanna “hijacked” the election and counting process, Mamata alleged.
Trinamool MPs Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen Mahua Moitra and Abhishek Banerjee were present with Mamata on Thursday, a day after INDIA bloc parties met in Delhi and announced a series of protests against the Election Commission.
The Trinamool delegation reiterated the opposition unity by stating that they had all come together to fight ‘vote chori’ and all allies were together.
Mamata, meanwhile, questioned why BJP leaders were responding to questions directed at the Chief Election Commissioner. “When questions are asked to Gyanesh Kumar, BJP people answer.”
The TMC had been questioning SIR from the beginning but the issue gained wider attention only after the party began its campaign against the exercise in Bengal, she said.
“SIR was never discussed. But when we started the fight in Bengal, then the discussion on SIR started.” The TMC, she added, had taken people affected by the process to the Election Commission but was “treated disrespectfully”.
She also alleged that voters had been deleted from areas where the Trinamool had support and that officials were removed and replaced before the election. “Wherever we had our votes, names were deleted from there through SIR.”
The former chief minister went on to question the law providing legal protection to election commissioners, alleging that it was passed when 147 opposition MPs had been suspended from Parliament.
“Someone said that the law was passed only to save Gyanesh Kumar. When 147 MPs had been thrown out of Parliament, this Bill was passed.”
The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 was passed by Parliament in December 2023, and came into force in January 2024.
The Trinamool Congress founder demanded a probe into the circumstances leading to the fire in Kolkata’s Alipore area that gutted about 4,000 electronic voting machines in June.
Her nephew Abhishek demanded that the Election Commission release CCTV footage from counting centres in around 100 constituencies where the Trinamool has doubts over the counting process.
“I can give you a list of around 100 Assembly constituencies where we have serious questions about what happened during counting,” he said, naming Rajarhat-Gopalpur, Bhabanipur (where Mamata lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari) and Satgachhia.
The Lok Sabha MP alleged that the TMC had been leading by around 11,000-12,000 votes at one stage of counting before its agents were threatened and removed.
“I challenge the Election Commission to release just six hours of CCTV footage, from 3 pm to 9 pm, and let everyone see what happened during that period,” he said. “Our assessment is that these nearly 150 seats were effectively handed over to the BJP through this process.”
Abhishek also raised questions over Form 17C which contain information such as total number of voters registered in a given area, the number of voters who are denied the opportunity to vote, the total number of votes totaled by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
“If the machine recorded in Form 17C has one serial number and the machine brought for counting has another, then this discrepancy requires an immediate technical explanation and investigation,” he said.
To a question on whether the Trinamool rebels would be taken back, Mamata refused to comment on it. “That is my party’s policy. I cannot tell that in front of you.”
“There is a fight in court over our party’s name and symbol. I will not say much, but we will fight and take it back. Even now, AITC is with us, in my name,” she said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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