KOLKATA: The CPI-M-led Left Front in West Bengal finally met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Thursday after night-long demonstrations in front of his office at B B D Bag protesting the deletion of 64 lakh voters and categorising another 60 lakh as 'under adjudication' during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
A delegation led by Biman Bose, veteran Marxist and chairman of the CPI-M-led Left Front, met Agarwal and submitted a memorandum to him demanding immediate solution of the crisis related to the 60 lakh voters belonging to ‘under adjudication’ category whose voting rights hangs in balance at a time when the ECI is expected to announce dates of assembly polls in Bengal by second week of March.
After meeting the CEO, Bose told the media, “We have urged the CEO to solve the crisis in connection with voting rights of the 60 lakhs people, who have been marked as ‘under adjudication’. They are being harassed and landed in deep uncertainty. Their voting rights are going to be curtailed.”
“We wanted to know from him about what is the way out to solve the issue. How can it be possible to hold elections without voters? Our priority is voters first and then vote. No votes without proper complete list of genuine voters,” the Left Front chairman said adding, “We will never support the Commission to elections without voters. We will decide our future plan of actions if it happens ignoring our demands.”
Responding to a call made by the state CPI-M a huge rally of Left supporters marched to the CEO office and staged the sit-in protest on Wednesday after Agarwal allegedly denied to meet the delegation members led by Mohammad Salim, Bengal CPI-M secretary, who wanted to submit a memorandum to him.
Salim on Tuesday had urged his party supporters to take to the streets to “fight for the right to franchise”.
Left supporters staged protest in front of the CEO office since 4 pm on Wednesday and decided to continue their sit-in programme till Agarwal meets their leaders.
The protest comes in the backdrop of the publication of the final post-SIR electoral rolls in Bengal on February 28. More than 60 lakh voters were either excluded or remained under adjudication on grounds ranging from duplication and shifting of residence to alleged ineligibility.
“No vote will be held in the state without proper voters’ list. We wanted to submit our demands to the CEO but he denied to meet us yesterday. Finally, he agreed to meet our delegation members led by Biman Bose,” Salim said.
“It is almost absurd to conduct Assembly polls in the state without rectifying the voters’ list and enrolling all genuine voters. We will fight as long as required to ensure voting rights for all and to fight for the people’s right to vote,” he said.
“Polls with an incorrect voter list, and without lakhs of genuine voters is an absurdity, and we cannot allow it. While the Commission is actually implementing the BJP’s narrative, the state government is misleading people and has done nothing,” he said alleging a tacit understanding between the BJP and the constitutional authority responsible for conducting elections.
Under the guise of SIR, the political narrative of the BJP had been “materialised into reality” by the Gyanesh Kumar-led Election Commission, the CPI-M leadership alleged. Several other CPI-M leaders, including Meenakshmi Mukherjee, party’s Central Committee member, also addressed in the sit-in programme.