NEW DELHI: A day after meeting the Election Commission of India, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded the impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and sought to mobilise opposition parties.
On Monday, Banerjee and her delegation walked out of a meeting with Kumar and other election commissioners on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue, alleging humiliation by the poll panel chief.
Addressing a press conference alongside a group of people from Bengal who have allegedly been affected by the SIR, Banerjee claimed that electors whose names were being deleted from the electoral rolls were TMC supporters.
Asked whether TMC supports Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s proposal to bring a law with retrospective effect to hold the CEC accountable, Banerjee said, “We also want Gyanesh Kumar to be impeached”. She added, “We don’t have numbers, but there is a provision. It would be recorded. If Congress does something like this, we will also discuss it with our party MPs. When there is public interest, we work together.”
Banerjee said that her party would contest the upcoming Assembly elections alone and challenged the BJP to fight electorally rather than “using” the poll panel. She alleged that deletions in Bengal affected Trinamool, saying, “100% are TMC men... One or two maybe of other parties for face saving...”.
Claiming those impacted by the SIR are largely dalits, tribals, minorities and marginalised communities, she said, “In my state, there are 23% SC, 6% ST, 33% Muslims, shall I say get out from my state?”
Questioning the implications, she said, “Are we going to start a super emergency in Bengal... all India? All leaders from different districts are in Bengal, and all agencies are sitting in Bengal... Sometimes we forget, chairs are not, but people are permanent in democracy.”
Banerjee has moved Supreme Court challenging the SIR.