Cooch Behar, 13 Jan

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday presented 10 more people, who were allegedly declared dead in the draft electoral rolls during the SIR in West Bengal, at a rally here, and accused the Election Commission of taking away voting rights of citizens through the ongoing exercise.

He also alleged that the BJP-led Centre has not been keeping its electoral promises, and said the fight in the upcoming assembly elections is between the people of the state and the saffron party.

Calling the 10 people on the stage, the TMC national general secretary said, "All of them were born and brought up in Cooch Behar, but they were declared dead by the BJP's stooge Election Commission," Banerjee alleged.

The names of these ten people were "struck off the electoral rolls in the ongoing SIR", he said.

Earlier this month, Banerjee had paraded two men and a woman, allegedly marked as dead voters in the draft electoral rolls, at a rally in South 24 Parganas district.

The Diamond Harbour MP also accused the EC of "taking away the voting rights of people instead of working for the masses".

Claiming that around 3.5 lakh people of Cooch Behar district alone have been given notices by the EC over logical discrepancies in the SIR process, he urged the TMC workers to ensure that the names of all these people are included in the voter list.

"It is not just the funds for roads, housing or water, but the BJP government is trying to take away our fundamental right of voting," the TMC leader alleged.

He claimed that around 78 people have died in Bengal in relation to anxieties over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Banerjee alleged that the promises made by the top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to the people of Cooch Behar in every election since 2014, have not been kept.

"From making the Narayani battalion, training centre in the name of legendary warrior Chilarai to declaring Madan Mohan temple as an international tourist site, the BJP has not done anything," he claimed.

The TMC leader also alleged that the BJP-ruled Centre has not lived up to its promise of granting international status to Cooch Behar airport.

"The service of the 9-seater aircraft from Cooch Behar to Kolkata, which was introduced in February 2023, is about to stop at the end of this month," he said, claiming that the BJP does not keep its promises.

He urged people of Cooch Behar to ensure that TMC candidates are voted to the assembly from all nine seats in the district.

The BJP had won six seats in the 2021 assembly elections, while the TMC got three.

"I thank the people of Cooch Behar for defeating Nisith Pramanik, the then deputy of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," he said.

Pramanik was the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs from 2021 to 2024 and was an MP from Cooch Behar.

He also asserted that the Trinamool Congress government will be formed for the fourth consecutive term in West Bengal under the chief ministership of Mamata Banerjee.

Accusing the BJP leadership of insulting the intelligentsia of the state, he said, "The fight is between the people of Bengal and the BJP."

Pointing to the Enforcement Directorate's January 8 raids on political consultancy firm I-PAC's office and its director Pratik Jain's residence, he said, "They tried to browbeat the TMC by sending ED, but now they have themselves been shown their position."

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to both these places during the raids and had accused the ED of confiscating her party's documents and hard disks. Stating that the documents have details about the TMC's candidates for the upcoming assembly polls, she had told reporters that the materials had no link to any financial probe.

Taking on the BJP leaders in Bengal for making caustic comments against the TMC for its slogan "Jay Bangla", the Diamond Harbour MP said, "Even the country's President gave the slogan during her visit here, so who are these people?"

Banerjee accused the BSF of atrocities on innocent farmers engaged in work on land near the international border with Bangladesh.

The BJP's leadership was "unaware of Bengal's legacy" and was "insulting the state", he alleged.

Maintaining that the Assam government has been sending NRC notices to some residents of Cooch Behar, he said, "What right does the BJP government in that state have to do so? I want to tell the chief minister there not to take up cudgels with the people of Bengal; this is not Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat."