Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Friday that names of 10 lakh voters marked "under adjudication" in the electoral rolls might have been deleted in three districts, Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur.
“The supplementary list has not been published yet,” Mamata said while addressing a news conference at her Harish Chatterjee Street residence in Kolkata, while unveiling the manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls.
“Ami shunechhi 10 lakh lok er naam baad gechhe. Eta ami shunechhi (I have heard names of 10 lakh voters will be deleted, I have heard so). Please cross check.”
“Most of the deleted voters are from Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur. A particular community has been targeted. Names of Hindus, Rajbongshis and Matuas have also been deleted,” Mamata said. “If it takes 15-20 days to decide on 22 lakh voters, will the entire process be completed before the elections? This is the EC’s injustice.”
The Election Commission had released the final electoral roll on February 28 with 6.44 crore electors and another 60.06 lakh voters marked under adjudication.
A significant portion (around 23.25 lakh) of the total 60.06 lakh people belongs to the districts of North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad.
In a meeting held on Thursday with Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, the newly appointed home secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, director-general of police Siddh Nath Gupta and Kolkata police commissioner Ajoy Kumar Nand, it was decided that the first supplementary list will be released next week.
Sources said the fate of around 22 lakh voters has been decided by the 705 judicial officers involved in preparing the rolls. The judicial officers are yet to decide about the remaining 37 lakh voters.
“From the streets to the judiciary we have knocked on every door to ensure the voting rights of the people of Bengal. Right to vote is a fundamental right. There is no such thing as logical discrepancy in the commission’s rules,” Mamata said.
She reminded that in the draft rolls the names of 58 lakh voters had been deleted.
“Also remember the statements of the BJP leaders. They had said names of 1.20 crore voters will be deleted. All the decisions are being taken by the BJP,” Mamata alleged.
The chief minister said many mapped voters and women voters who had shifted to other localities post-marriage have been deleted.
“Officers from Bengal have been moved out because goons have been sent from other states to capture Bengal. They have been moved out so that these goons could not be identified. The replacements are the lackeys of the Centre,” she said.
Judicial officers from Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand appointed on the instructions of the Supreme Court have disposing around 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh cases every day.