TMC MLA files FIR against CEC for deleting genuine voters in SIR

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Saokat Molla on Friday lodged an FIR against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jibantala Police Station in South 24 Parganas district, alleging large-scale deletion of genuine voters from the electoral rolls in his Canning (Purba) Assembly constituency.

Molla personally visited the police station to file the complaint, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of arbitrarily removing names during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

He claimed that several long-time residents, including individuals whose names had appeared on voter lists since 1980, were struck off without justification.

According to the MLA, nearly 33,000 names have been deleted from the constituency’s voter list in the past three days alone. He described the situation as “deeply alarming” and alleged that repeated representations at the administrative level had failed to yield any corrective action.

Molla further alleged that the ECI was acting under the influence of a particular political party and that the Chief Election Commissioner was responsible for what he termed an attempt to disenfranchise genuine voters. He said a similar FIR would soon be filed at Bhangar Police Station in the neighbouring Assembly constituency.

As of the filing of this report, there has been no official response from the Election Commission of India or the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.

In a related development, a separate police complaint was filed against Molla on Thursday at Bhangar Police Station by fellow TMC leader Kaiser Ahmed. Ahmed accused the MLA of allegedly hiring a contract killer to target him and has sought police protection for himself and his family.