CEC was aggressive, failed to answer our questions on SIR: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee after meeting poll body

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying he failed to address their concerns on the ongoing SIR in West Bengal and was "aggressive" towards them, after a party delegation met the poll body here.

Election Commission (EC) officials said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation was told that intimidation of any electoral staff by ground-level political representatives and workers will not be tolerated and that the West Bengal government should immediately release the enhanced honorarium to each BLO.

Later this evening, TMC sources said the CEC should write a letter to Union finance minister requesting to release West Bengal's Rs 2 lakh crore funds allegedly blocked by the Centre.

"Let Gyanesh Kumar write a letter to Union finance minister requesting to release Bengal's blocked Rs 2 lakh crore funds. Leave about the release of funds - even if he writes a letter, AITC-led government will pay Rs 50,000 honorarium to BLOs," said a source.

The ruling party of Bengal has alleged that the Centre owes the state Rs 2 lakh crore.

"If they were so concerned for BLOs and people, they should have at least released a statement and provided assistance to the bereaved families of BLOs who died due to unplanned SIR and the unrealistic work pressure imposed by them," the TMC source said.

Earlier, lashing out at the EC, Banerjee said that his party will not accept the final voter list if it has "discrepancies". "We would fight it legally," he said, briefing the media after a 10-member TMC delegation met the full bench of the EC over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in his party-ruled state.

Banerjee said they raised several concerns around the draft voter list with the EC, including the summoning of 1.36 crore voters, during the over two-hour meeting, but did not get any concrete answer.

The TMC national general secretary claimed that CEC Kumar was "aggressive" during the meeting. "When we started talking, he (CEC) started losing his temper... I said you are nominated, I am elected... If he has the guts, he should release the footage... if he has the courage... he should face the media and rebut whatever point I am making...," he said.

"Apart from 2–3 basic questions, he has failed to answer any of the questions we had raised... Queries on SIR were repeatedly diverted to citizenship issues, while questions on deletions were met with procedural responses such as filling Form 7, without any concrete explanation," Banerjee said.

Asked if they would accept the final electoral roll after the SIR is completed, he said, "If it has discrepancies, why would we accept it. We would fight it legally".

Banerjee alleged that "vote chori" (vote theft) in elections is happening through the voter list and not through EVMs, and claimed that states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar could have been won by opposition parties if they had aggressively raised the issue.

The top TMC leader claimed there was a "conspiracy to malign" West Bengal by raising the "bogey of infiltration", and challenged the poll authority to come out with the list of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas among the 58 lakh voters whose names have been deleted in the draft electoral roll.

"There is selective targeting, allegations of infiltration, which are leaked to malign West Bengal. We asked the CEC to come out with a list of how many Bangladeshis or Rohingyas have been found in West Bengal," said Banerjee.

He also questioned the EC's move to retroactively introduce a new category termed "logical discrepancies", summoning 1.36 crore voters for hearing on different grounds, including issues like mismatch of father's name, questionable age gap between parents and children, among others.

Banerjee said they have urged the EC that senior citizens, people with disabilities and those with comorbidities should be provided a hearing at home.

The TMC also questioned the "selective deployment" of micro-observers in West Bengal. Alleging that the electoral roll was being weaponised, he appealed to all like-minded parties to pay attention to the voter list, saying the "vote chori", a term being used by the Congress and opposition parties to allege irregularities in the election process, is happening in the voter list and not through EVMs.

"These are the same mistakes that the Congress committed in the past, which AAP also failed to point out, and even the RJD in Bihar failed to raise, leading to the BJP winning with over an 88 per cent strike rate," Banerjee said.

"The BJP won Maharashtra, Delhi, and Bihar with an 88 per cent strike rate. Is this some coincidence? This is vote theft. Vote theft does not happen through EVMs. No other political party was able to point this out in other states." "Earlier, voters used to decide the government; now the government is deciding the voters," he said.

He said the whole country should unite, and every party should catch this "vote-theft". "People are watching, if you put up a fight, the BJP won't win, because it will be the people who decide." Banerjee also said they asked the CEC why their party's BLA-2 representatives were "not being allowed" at the hearing venues. He also said he urged the CEC to issue a circular on the matter, which he refused.

"I then said that if no circular is issued, our BLA-2 representatives will be present at the hearing venues. He cannot issue such a circular because he knows it would be challenged in a court of law. An oral statement has no value," he said.

The TMC leader alleged that the government is being run on "WhatsApp".

"Governments function through circulars and notifications, not through WhatsApp directives. Do the Union government and the ECI want to run the country through WhatsApp?" he said.

EC officials, meanwhile, said they informed the TMC delegation that the West Bengal government should immediately release the enhanced honorarium as approved by the poll panel to each BLO.

The officials also said "strict action will be taken against any such miscreant(s) who try to take law into their hands".

EC officials also said the TMC delegation was informed that polling stations will be set up in high-rise buildings, gated communities and slums to facilitate the voters.

The ten-member TMC delegation included its leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O'Brien, MPs Saket Gokhale, Ritabrata Banerjee and Mamata Thakur, and ministers from West Bengal, including Manas Bhunia, Pradip Mazumdar and Chandrima Bhattacharya. PTI AO RT KVK KVK