CPM state secretary Md Salim on Sunday said that he had earlier stressed that the SIR process in Bengal had been too hurried in the wake of the Election Commission extending the deadline for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
On Sunday, the EC extended the deadline for enumeration by a week to December 11. The earlier deadline was December 4.
“I had said earlier it was not right to rush the SIR process. That is why the pressure on the BLOs has increased. There have been deaths. The Election Commission and both the state and central administrations must take responsibility,” Salim said in Jalpaiguri during his Bangla Bachao (Save Bengal) march in Jalpaiguri.
Salim added: “Neither the BJP, nor Trinamool nor the Election Commission wants a clear voter list. Otherwise, why were SIR forms printed in the names of deceased persons?”
Salim was accompanied by central committee member Minakshi Mukherjee. The leaders later addressed another public meeting at Tikiapara in Siliguri on Sunday evening.
Mukherjee, in her speech, attacked the state government over the stalled rural job scheme wages. “The 100-day work has been stopped for months. Central teams have repeatedly visited Bengal to investigate irregularities, yet they have not taken a single step against any Trinamool leader,” she said.
The CPM’s Bangla Bachao march began in Cooch Behar on Saturday.