Trinamool to hold mega rally in Kolkata against Election Commission’s voter revision drive
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Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has announced plans to hold a massive rally in Kolkata early next month to oppose the Election Commission of India’s upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The protest will take place soon after the festive season ends with Kali Puja, Diwali, and Bhai Phonta (Bhai Dooj).
Party sources said the rally is likely to be held in the first week of November, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee expected to lead the event. Both leaders will outline the party’s strategy for state-wide protests against the SIR in the coming months.
“At the rally, both the Chief Minister and the party's general secretary are expected to present the blueprint on how anti-SIR movements will be carried out in different parts of the state for the next few months. The Chief Minister is also expected to spell out the points of argument of Trinamool Congress against SIR,” a state cabinet member said.
The Trinamool leadership has questioned how senior BJP leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and Union Minister of State Santanu Thakur, have already been predicting the number of voters whose names might be deleted under the SIR, even before the Election Commission has issued the formal notification.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has earlier warned that she would not tolerate any attempt to remove voters belonging to a particular community from the rolls. Several TMC leaders and ministers have also threatened mass protests if “the name of a single genuine voter is deleted from the list”.
The party has described the SIR as a BJP and Union government “ploy” to introduce the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal through the back door. The BJP, however, has countered that Mamata Banerjee’s opposition stems from her alleged attempt to protect Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators on the state’s voter list.