'Avenge SIR deletion by voting': Mamata issues clarion call at Murshidabad poll rally

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee scaled up her campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state by asking people to avenge the deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls in the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by pressing the ballot button.

Speaking at a rally in Samserganj, a seat held by her Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Murshidabad district, she also urged those whose names have been omitted from the voter list to seek legal recourse.

'Vote to avenge SIR deletion'

“Cast your votes to take revenge for the deletion of people's names, and against the SIR so that the results reflect that,” she said. Mamata also instructed her party workers to remain vigilant till May 4, the day the results will be announced for Bengal and three other states and one Union Territory.

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The state will hold a two-phase polling on April 23 and 29.

Though Samserganj, a comparatively new constituency, went to the TMC in 2016 and 2021, the ruling party would not be too assured this time as it was the epicentre of violence during the protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act in the Muslim-majority district in April last year. Some lives were also lost.

Banerjee also apparently threw a challenge to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, asking his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to fight “directly” if it had the “guts”. The TMC supremo alleged that the latter was behind the deletion of voters’ names in Bengal.

“I hope none of our booth agents will sell themselves off to the BJP, in the interest of West Bengal,” she said.

Claiming that electronic voting machines will be made to malfunction at some places, the TMC chief also asked her party workers not to allow Election Commission officials to repair the machines and instead demand replacements if such cases arise.

Mamata warns sitting party MLA who joined Congress

Mamata also spoke in support of the local TMC candidate Mohammed Noor Alam and Mohammed Amirul Islam, who is contesting from the neighbouring Farakka seat (both come under Malda Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency).

She also made an indirect mention about Manirul Islam, who has not been given a ticket this time by the TMC in Farakka. Islam joined the Congress in protest and nominated his name on its ticket from the seat. Addressing Islam, Mamata said he should withdraw his nomination or else the party would suspend him.

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“It is not possible to give tickets to everyone. Those who will serve the people will get tickets,” she said. The TMC has denied tickets to 74 MLAs for this election, something that experts say is to nullify the anti-incumbency challenge.

It may be mentioned here that the TMC faced another rebellion in Humayun Kabir, another senior MLA, who later formed his own Aam Janata Unnayan Party and has challenged the TMC in Murshidabad, threatening to eat into its minority vote base.

Mamata says she fought for Muslims

On the question of her party allegedly letting down the Muslims, Mamata accused the BJP of spreading canards against her and claimed that she fought hard against the execution of the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The BJP had accused the TMC of instigating the violence in many parts of Murshidabad.

Claiming that development work has stalled owing to the assembly polls, she said, "They (EC) have transferred nearly 500 officers, but this is only for a month; work will begin again after that." The chief minister accused the EC of "deleting names of some, while intimidating some others", in the name of SIR of electoral rolls.

Banerjee asked why the assembly polls could not be conducted with the same electoral rolls used in the 2024 general elections.

'PM, HM should have resigned'

“If the voter list contained names of infiltrators, the prime minister and the home minister also won with their votes earlier, so they should have resigned first,” she said.

Claiming that she and her party will never allow the establishment of detention camps in the name of the National Register of Citizens, Banerjee said, “That is why you are being vengeful against me.”

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She sought to remind that the EC’s authority over the state's administration is till completion of the election process.

Mamata questions shifting her officers to TN

The chief minister asked why several senior officers of her government, who were earlier replaced from their positions by the commission, were being sent to the poll-bound Tamil Nadu.

Banerjee alleged that officers who are relatives of BJP leaders have been deputed in Bengal.

She claimed that during the TMC rule, youths from among the minority community and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes got better education opportunities and made it to the IAS, IPS and WBPS cadre and also became doctors and engineers.

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“The society is advancing, but the jealous BJP people cannot stand this,” the TMC chief said.

Banerjee also assured people that women will receive lifelong financial benefits under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme if the TMC returns to power for a fourth consecutive term.

(With agency inputs)