Suvendu Adhikari alleges TMC fast-tracking caste, tribal certificates for infiltrators

Kolkata: West Bengal's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday alleged that the TMC government in the state was "frantically" organising camps to fast-track issuance of SC, ST and OBC certificates for "undocumented infiltrators and fake claimants".

Sharing a memo issued by the block development officer of Kandi in Murshidabad district about three such in-person camps from December 8 to 12 at panchayat offices, Adhikari urged the Election Commission to closely scrutinise all certificates issued after June 24, as the SIR exercise in the first phase in Bihar started on that date.

"Why the sudden panic? Because the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is about to expose their voter fraud racket! The desperation is obvious because a large chunk of Mamata Banerjee's 'vote bank' is unable to link their names to the authentic 2002 Voter List, are staring down exclusion from the draft electoral rolls," he claimed in a post on X.

"It's a blatant bid to arm ineligible voters with 'certificates' that slyly match the ECI's list of 13 documents for hearings after the publication of draft electoral rolls. An attempt to make a mockery of democracy, by flooding the system with bogus SC/ST/OBC creds," he alleged.

Adhikari alleged that efforts were being made to rob the true marginalised communities of their rightful share.

"Real SCs, STs, and OBCs will watch their benefits evaporate as ineligible people will swarm in, staking unethical claims," he claimed.

The BJP leader urged the EC to conduct exhaustive probes into each certificate and cross-verify whether the community is genuinely enlisted as an SC, ST or OBC community by the Centre.

"The WB Govt has the habit of issuing OBC Certificates (mostly religion based) to ineligible people which have been struck down by the Hon’ble Courts. Let the SIR purge the electoral rolls clean, and let Democracy prevail," he added.