BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said there is no point in debating the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), asserting that only those with valid and legitimate documents will be included in the voter list.
Speaking to ANI, he referred to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s continued opposition to the SIR exercise, claiming it has complicated the process.
"The court and the Election Commission have tried very hard to find a solution," Ghosh said.
Ghosh added that individuals with genuine documents should follow the prescribed procedure to ensure their inclusion.
Drawing a comparison, he said, "Look, in Bihar, 65 lakh (6.5 million) people were removed; there was no protest, elections happened, a government was formed, and no one opposed it. Here in West Bengal as well, 90 lakh (9 million) people have been removed; it may even go up to 1 crore (10 million). Those who have genuine documents will have their names included, and those who don't will not," he added.
West Bengal has witnessed a major tussle between TMC and the ECI over the SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The TMC has accused the ECI of working on the behest of the BJP to delete the names of the voters from the electoral rolls.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee accused BJP and ECI of turning "Indian democracy into a cruel joke" over SIR in West Bengal.
The Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal is currently taking place under judicial supervision. The total number of voters in West Bengal stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) without adding the names under adjudication, as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise. This shows a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list. TMC claimed that out of the 60 lakh voters placed under adjudication, 27 lakhs have been deleted.
The polling for 294-seat West Bengal assembly will take place in two phases on April 23 and 29 followed by counting of votes on May 4.
(With inputs from ANI)