KOLKATA: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari alleged that ruling Trinamool Congress and I-PAC are jointly responsible for harassing people who have been summoned by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to appear before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings.
The LoP made this allegation on Monday afternoon when the Bengal Chief Minister (CM) and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee confronted security personnel deployed outside Banga Bhawan in Delhi, saying she came for justice to the families that suffered during SIR, and not for an agitation.
A 15-member delegation of the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata this afternoon met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at Nirvachan Sadan to raise their protest against the SIR in Bengal.
Suvendu while speaking to reporters in Kolkata today alleged that Mamata and the I-PAC, a private political consultancy firm engaged by the Trinamool Congress, have been spreading panic among common citizens in the name of SIR since the process kickstarted in the state on 4 November last year.
He further alleged that Banerjee used I-PAC personnel to coerce Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by the ECI to make mistakes in the enumeration forms required for the SIR process.
The Bengal BJP unit has submitted deputations in offices of the district electoral officers (DEOs) across the state against the illegal practice later this afternoon.
A BJP delegation led by Suvendu, party MLA from Nadigram constituency in East Midnapore district in the state, also met the Governor C V Ananda Bose at Lok Bhaban in Kolkata and briefed the latter how lakhs of voters are being harassed because of the mistakes allegedly because of the BLOs, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and DEOs with backdoor interventions of the I-PAC.
The LoP also said that he has already written to the state chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty seeking her appointment so that he can raise the issue during meeting.
The West Bengal chief minister was seen directly confronting the security personnel, and asking them to be sensitive towards the families of those who have been impacted by the SIR in her state. He also said that the CM instead of provoking the Delhi Police should cooperate with them in the national capital.
“Everybody knows how the CMs of other states behave with LoPs, MPs and leaders belonging to the opposition camps and at the same time what kind of treatment we get from our CM in Bengal. During the last five years 86 false cases have been registered against me by her police here in our state,” Suvendu said.