BJP trying to add outsiders to Bengal voters' list, alleges Mamata, writes to CEC

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (March 31) wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the BJP of submitting Form 6s in bulk in a bid to include people from other states to the electoral roll in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Describing the alleged attempt by the saffron party as "another coordinated attempt” in conjunction with the Election Commission of India, to interfere with the democratic rights of the people, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo further stated that similar attempts were made in Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi ahead of elections.

Questions over legitimacy and process

"There are serious concerns that these applications may pertain to individuals who are not genuine residents of Bengal and who have no legitimate connection to the state. Similar patterns were reportedly observed prior to elections in Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi," the TMC chief wrote to Kumar.

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"Such actions, if true, would be illegal, unconstitutional and fundamentally undemocratic, reflecting mala fide intent and ill motive. This is not the standard expected of a constitutional authority. The people have the right to transparency and to the protection of their voting rights," she added.

Banerjee stated that she had "reasonable apprehensions" that the 30,000-odd applications would be "allowed by the EC without giving appropriate notice to the concerned booths (sic) and to all the political parties".

Alleges disenfranchisement risk

Referring to the Supreme Court's February 20 order stating that claims and objections to inclusion or deletion of names in the final electoral rolls would be scrutinised by judicial officers, Banerjee maintained that the decision of the state's chief electoral officer or any other administrative officers on the Form 6 applications was "totally illegal and beyond the scope" of the apex court's order.

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She further alleged that the Election Commission appeared to be “undermining the democratic and fundamental rights of the people of Bengal” adding that the “flawed and seemingly targeted” Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has caused severe hardship to the people of the state and was pushing a large number of them to the “brink of disenfranchisement.”

The Trinamool Congress chief shot the letter in less than 24 hours after the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday alleged that nearly 30,000 Form 6s were submitted by the BJP in a day to make residents of other states voters of West Bengal.