The Trinamul Congress supremo, who was speaking to the media at Siliguri during her visit to North Bengal, also asserted that not a single genuine voter's name should be dropped even if her throat gets slit.
Kolkata: Calling the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) a "votebandi" ahead of the Assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked the Election Commission to halt the exercise immediately.
The Trinamul Congress supremo, who was speaking to the media at Siliguri during her visit to North Bengal, also asserted that not a single genuine voter's name should be dropped even if her throat gets slit.
Banerjee alleged, “Like demonetisation was notebandi, SIR is ‘votebandi’. It is not possible to complete the SIR within two months in election bound states. It is carried out forcibly at the insistence of BJP. We feel people have the right to get justice.”
She claimed, “Therefore, two years’ time should be given for the drive. Let all the genuine voters’ names get uploaded. They (BJP) are trying to cross the hurdle by conducting a forcible ‘SIR-bandi’ of the people like ‘notebandi’. They will anyway get lost because the people of Bengal will not forgive this.”
The CM pointed out, “If the election is declared in February, there will be only three months, November, December and January, before it. You have introduced a super emergency tactfully so that the government can not work in these three months.”
She observed, “Officers have been held back for the SIR work also. The EC, as far as I heard, has not sent all the forms. Crores of people have not got forms still because these have been kept at BJP offices. I still feel the SIR should be stayed.”
The TMC chief said, “You can cut my throat but don't cut the name of a single genuine voter.” She also acknowledged that her support to the Centre for the GST introduction was a "big blunder."
“Amit Mitra (the then finance minister) had convinced me for it. I also agreed. It was a big blunder as I now see everything is taken away from the state by the central government,” Banerjee added.
She later announced a stadium in Siliguri in the name of Richa Ghosh, the cricketer of the Indian women's cricket team that recently won its first World Cup title.
