West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday accused opposition parties of spreading “canards” over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, alleging that their objections were politically motivated following their defeat in the state Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference, Adhikari claimed that some news organisations that were “yet to come to terms with BJP’s victory” in West Bengal were also spreading misinformation about the exercise.
He said the SIR process was being conducted transparently and with the participation of all stakeholders.
“The opposition parties, out of frustration after their defeat in Bengal, are spreading canards over SIR,” he alleged.
Drawing a comparison with Kerala, Adhikari claimed that the Congress was supporting the SIR exercise in the southern state because it had won the elections there, while opposing it in West Bengal after its defeat.
“Since the Congress won the Kerala polls, the party is supporting the SIR there but is opposing it in Bengal because the Congress and its allies lost the polls here,” he said.
Adhikari also alleged that former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was responsible for the deletion of 27 lakh names during the SIR exercise in the state, rather than the BJP or the Election Commission.
The BJP leader further criticised Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over their opposition to the Election Commission’s exercise. He alleged that the TMC and the CPI(M) were now “speaking in one voice”, despite their longstanding political rivalry.
Adhikari also referred to incidents of political violence associated with the Left Front’s tenure, including the Saibari and Nandigram incidents, while questioning what he described as the TMC’s political understanding with the CPI(M).
(With inputs from PTI)