KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and ruling Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday assured that she will provide lawyers free of charge for adjudicated voters who have lost their voting rights after the verification of documents by judicial officers.
Addressing an election campaign rally in Matigara in Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday, she said they would organise camps for rejected voters to give them legal help to fight in the appellate tribunals.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday midnight released the first supplementary list of around 29 lakh of 60 lakh adjudicated voters in West Bengal.
However, almost 24 hours later, the ECI or the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) is yet to release the figures of eligible and ineligible voters among the 29 lakh adjudicated voters in the supplementary list.
Sources in the ECI said that around 10 lakh of the 29 lakh adjudicated voters have lost their voting rights after thorough scrutiny of their documents by judicial officers.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP and the Commission from her first election campaign in north Bengal, a stronghold of the saffron party, Mamata alleged that the next move could be an attempt to strip people of citizenship through the NRC.
She also alleged, “Constitutional institutions are being used to snatch away people's voting rights through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The EC, BJP and Centre are not following the Constitution.”
She claimed, “The release of the supplementary list of voters branded as under adjudication is a midnight rampage. We got Independence at midnight, and we feel proud of it. But today, they have forgotten Independence. They are not following the Constitution or democracy. They are snatching away people's voting rights."
She said, "Several communities, including Rajbanshis and women, were being affected by the SIR exercise. Rajbanshi names have been removed through the voters’ list revision process. Women's names are also being deleted from the rolls," in a bid to mobilise women voters who form a crucial support base for the ruling party.
"Due to SIR, 220 people have died in Bengal since the exercise began in November. Their souls are crying today. The BJP must remember that they will have to answer," she said.
North Bengal, particularly Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, has been a key battleground between the ruling party of Bengal and the opposition BJP since the saffron party's phenomenal rise in the region in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when it swept most seats there and built a formidable organisational base among communities such as the Rajbanshi.
The Chief Minister also criticised the Centre over rising fuel prices and alleged restrictions on LPG cylinder bookings. "The price of petrol is rising. Now they say that after booking a gas cylinder, it may take 35 days. How will people cook?" she asked.