Mamata Banerjee Objects To New Rules of EC For Voters

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday objected to the new rules of the Election Commission (EC) for the enrollment and verification of the voters.

The Trinamul Congress supremo alleged that the fresh conditions have been brought to target Bengal, which would go to Assembly polls next year, rather than Bihar, also going to polls this year.

She also suspected the EC of trying to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at the behest of the BJP through ‘backdoors’ in the guise of citizenship document verification.

Her attack on the EC came days after the EC launched Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll, requiring the voters to submit one of 11 documents to verify their date and place of birth.

Ms Banerjee, who has been at Digha in East Midnapore for the celebration of Rath Yatra at the newly inaugurated Jagannath Dham, said, “I got two letters from the EC, each with 25-30 pages but couldn't read them in detail.”

She added, “What I understood after having a glance at them is that the EC issued a declaration form for the voters born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004 which is Annexure D in one of the letters, where they need to submit their parents' birth certificates.”

Ms Banerjee then pointed out, “I don’t understand the purpose of selecting these dates. This is nothing short of a scam. I want the EC to clarify if it is trying to implement the NRC through backdoors.”

She alleged, “This looks more dangerous than the NRC which every political party in the Opposition should block. Bihar is just an excuse. The real target is Bengal. We won't accept this. They are doing whatever the BJP tells them to do. They are scared.”