Govt turning respectable word 'sir' into 'Gabbar Singh-like' fearful figure, Bengal will stand by 'madam': Satabdi Roy

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leader Satabdi Roy on Wednesday accused the government of turning a respectable word 'sir' into a 'Gabbar Singh-like' fearful figure and torture for the voters.

Participating in the discussion in Lok Sabha on election reforms, she said no matter how hard the BJP shouted 'SIR, SIR, SIR', the people of West Bengal will stand by 'madam', a reference to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

She questioned the intention for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls across 12 states and union territories.

"These people know nothing about West Bengal. They come like daily passengers during elections, and return defeated. This time will be no different. You may have won Bihar, but you cannot win West Bengal," Roy claimed.

Samajwadi Party member Dimple Yadav demanded return to the ballot papers and accused the Election Commission of working according to the direction of the government.

She said that the poll authority started displaying bias towards the ruling party since 2022 when the government granted the Commission legal immunity.

Yadav also demanded that the Chief Justice of India be included in the panel for selection of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners and remove the legal immunity granted to the Commission.

DMK leader T M Selvaganapathi accused the government of trying to control the Election Commission and other independent organisations.

He claimed that the ongoing SIR exercise was illegal and unconstitutional as such an activity could only be ordered by the approval of Parliament.

Selvaganapathi also claimed that the government was trying to enrol voters from Bihar in Tamil Nadu through the SIR exercise.

Union Minister and Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel said the opposition parties were making an issue out of the SIR and targeting the Election Commission out of frustration over losing successive elections.

"You are very creative. Every election you make different claims such as the Constitution being under attack, reservations being taken away and 'vote chori' (vote theft). You are hurt and because you lost the elections after all this," Patel said.

Congress claimed 65 lakh votes were deleted in Bihar during the SIR without any reason. "It is strange, because no one complained about it. At least 65 persons should have come forward with claims of wrongful deletions. This year, Bihar rejected their (the opposition's) politics of fear," Patel said.

"There is no strength in their argument that the SIR exercise is being carried out in a hurried manner because elections are still six months away in most states. In some states, it is almost a year to go for elections," she said.

The minister sought to know whether illegal immigrants should be part of the electoral rolls in the country.

"The opposition is targeting institutions such as the Election Commission and the Supreme Court because they are unable to win elections," Patel said. PTI SKU ZMN