Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took her seat on the gigantic dais erected in the heart of central Calcutta’s Metro channel to protest against the deletions in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls as Bengal prepares for its forthcoming Assembly election.
Acrimony has been written all over the SIR process in the state marred with alleged deaths, accusations, stormy meetings and occasional violence.
“The trust deficit between the two constitutional functionaries” was noted and commented on by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.
The Metro channel in the middle of Esplanade, one of the busiest intersections in the city, swarming with officer-goers and shoppers alike all through the year, used to be Mamata’s go-to place for all important protests when she was the undisputed leader of Opposition in Bengal.
Even in her 15 years as chief minister, Mamata has not given up on the Metro channel.
Picture: Amit Datta
The chief minister likes to be seen protesting, but figures revealed by Mamata’s current bete noire, the Election Commission, beg the question why the chief minister is spending a working day on the streets.
So far in Bengal, 63.66 lakh or 8.3 per cent of the total electors have been deleted, and in limbo is the fate of around 60.06 lakh voters that judicial officers will decide.
After the completion of the SIR process, the total number of voters in Bengal is 7.04 crore, down from the previous 7.66 crore. This figure of 7.04 crore includes the 60-lakh voters under the cloud of “adjudication”, which means the number might reduce in the final count.
Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had announced In October last year the SIR for the poll-bound states of Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu along with Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Puducherry and the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshwadeep.
Except for Uttar Pradesh, the final draft rolls have been released for all the other states.
In the data released by the commission, the highest deletions took place in Gujarat (13.4 per cent or 68.12 lakh), while Kerala was the lowest (3.2 per cent or 8.97 lakh), from the previous rolls. Among the Union Territories, the highest voter deletions in terms of percentage were recorded in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (17 per cent or 52,364).
Picture: Amit Datta
In the other states, the percentage of voters deleted is at 11.77 per cent in Chhattisgarh, 10.67 per cent in Goa, 7.5 per cent in Puducherry, 5.96 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 5.74 per cent in Rajasthan.
The country’s most-populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has seen deletion of 2.89 crore voters, around 18.70 per cent of the total electors, at the draft roll stage. By the time the final draft voter list for Uttar Pradesh is released on April 10, the number could be much higher.
The Telegraph Online had earlier reported that the number of voters deleted in Bengal’s draft rolls exceeded the victory margin of the BJP in over 50 per cent of the seats that the party had won in the 2021 Assembly polls. That included the seat of the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari’s Nandigram.
After the publication of the final rolls, the voters marked under the “adjudicated” category – more than 60 lakh – exceed the victory margin in constituencies won by either the BJP or the Trinamool.
For example in Cooch Behar, the number of voters under adjudication in the seats of Cooch Behar North, Cooch Behar South, Sitalkuchi, Dinhata (all won by the BJP) is more than the victory margins.
Similarly in south Bengal’s Burdwan belt, the Trinamool’s victory margin in seats like Khandaghosh, Burdwan South, Raina, Kalna, Memari, Burdwan North, Purbasthali South, Purbasthali North, Katwa, Ketugram, Mangalkote, Ausgram, Galsi, Pandabeswar, Durgapur East, Durgapur West, Raniganj, Jamuria is less than the number of voters under adjudication.
Is this factor bothering the Trinamool chief and Bengal’s chief minister, who is possibly facing her most crucial election after three terms?
“There is a ploy behind reducing the voting population in the state,” Shashi Panja, state minister and Trinamool spokesperson, told The Telegraph Online.
“The agenda is naked. It is more than obvious that the EC is hand-holding the BJP. We are not concerned whether we will lose in these many seats.”
So why is Mamata Banerjee sitting in dharna?
“When Mamata di sits for the dharna it is for all the voters. It is to protect the democratic right of all the voters. Our concern is that voting rights cannot be snatched,” Panja said.
