EC did not clear our apprehensions, CEC was aggressive: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee after meeting poll panel

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said that the EC has failed to address their concerns on the ongoing SIR in West Bengal and that the 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 Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation met the full bench of the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in his party-ruled state.

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

Banerjee said they raised several concerns around the draft voter list with the EC, including the summoning 1.36 crore voters . The TMC national general secretary claimed that the Chief Election Commission 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," he said.

Banerjee alleged that the poll panel did not clear their apprehensions. 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 claimed there was a "conspiracy to malign" West Bengal by raising the "bogey of infiltration", and challenged the poll panel 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 Commission that senior citizens, people with disabilities and those with comorbidities should not be called for the hearing, and should be provided a hearing at home.

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.

"I appeal to all, the vote-chori is happening in the voters' list, not through EVMs. You don't know what algorithm, software they are using to disenfranchise people. They are trying to weaponise the electoral roll," he said.

"Earlier, voters used to decide the government; now the government is deciding the voters," he said.

"The whole country should unite, every party should catch this vote-theft... This is why opposition parties lost Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Bihar... People wanted to vote for them," he claimed, stressing that the opposition's fight is required not on media or social media, but on the ground.

"People are watching, if you put up a fight, the BJP won't win, because it will be the people who decide," he said.

The ten-member delegation of the TMC 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