Kamal Ghorui
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that officials recently appointed by the Election Commission had been assigned to reject the nomination papers of her party’s candidates, and urged them to remain cautious while filing their nominations.Speaking at three election rallies in the state, Banerjee also accused the BJP of misusing central agencies and bringing in people from outside for political advantage.“Everything has been changed; it’s a new setup here. The newly appointed officers by the EC are entrusted to reject your nomination; so be cautious while filing your nominations. Take lawyers with you while filing nomination,” Banerjee said at the rally in Nanoor in Birbhum district, as cited by PTI.The West Bengal chief minister also appealed to voters, particularly women, not to support the BJP.“They (BJP) are anti-women, that’s why their names are being deleted in SIR citing logical discrepancy,” she said. Mamata Banerjee alleged that ahead of the elections, the BJP was seeking bank account details of poor people and warned them not to share such information, claiming it could lead to misuse of their money.The TMC chief alleged that the BJP was attempting to bring in people from outside to influence voting in Bengal and said, “people from Delhi will not be able to take over Bengal till I am here.”The chief minister also welcomed the Supreme Court’s observations on SIR, saying she was “happy” with them.Referring to voter roll revisions, Banerjee said her government had approached the Supreme Court and managed to restore around 22 lakh names so far, while about 18 lakh names were yet to be reinstated.She added that those whose names were removed would have to appeal before tribunals, with the government bearing the associated expenses.Earlier in the day, the apex court said that appellate tribunals would hear appeals filed by individuals whose names have been excluded from the voter lists, as well as by election authorities challenging alleged wrongful inclusions.At the rally in Nanoor, where party leader Anubrata Mondal was absent, Banerjee alleged that the land of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in Santiniketan was being taken away, prompting her to intervene. She also urged people to defeat the BJP in the elections so that they would not have to stand in queues in the future.Later, addressing another rally in Burwan, the chief minister alleged large-scale deletion of voters’ names in several constituencies. She claimed that around 30,000 names had been removed in Dinhata and nearly 40,000 in Bhabanipur, her own constituency.However, Banerjee asserted that these developments would not help the BJP win the election and asked people to consider her as the candidate in all 294 Assembly constituencies.
