Kolkata, Tuesday: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been enrolling fake voters from other states into the electoral rolls with the “help of the Election Commission” (EC). She warned of an indefinite dharna in front of the EC office if necessary corrective measures were not taken.
Addressing a Trinamool Congress (TMC) conference, Banerjee questioned the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner, alleging that the BJP was “trying to influence” the constitutional body.
“How the BJP is manipulating the voters’ list with the blessings of the Election Commission is very much clear,” Banerjee claimed. “If I can go for a 26-day hunger strike during the anti-land acquisition movement in 2006, then we can start a movement against the Election Commission too. If needed, we will stage an indefinite dharna outside the Election Commission’s office to press for the removal of fake voters and correction of voter rolls.”
She further accused the BJP of using similar tactics in Delhi and Maharashtra by enrolling voters from Haryana and Gujarat to manipulate election results.
“In Delhi and Maharashtra, the BJP had won elections by enrolling fake voters from Haryana and Gujarat. Now, they will try to do the same in Bengal. But the BJP knows that it can never win elections in Bengal if polls are conducted in a free and fair manner,” she alleged.
Banerjee insisted that her party would expose and identify these so-called fake voters and would not allow “outsiders” to influence elections in Bengal.
“We will not allow outsiders (BJP) to capture Bengal,” the TMC supremo asserted.
Amid rising political tensions in West Bengal, both the ruling TMC and the opposition BJP are gearing up for a fierce electoral battle in the upcoming elections. With Banerjee’s fresh allegations and her warning of a large-scale protest, the political landscape in the state is set to witness heightened confrontations in the coming days.
