West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, 23 September demanded the arrest of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and criminal proceedings against him, escalating the political attack on the Election Commission of India after a report highlighted repeated objections raised by two of its members over decisions concerning electoral rolls.
Banerjee alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal had deprived lakhs of people of their right to vote and accused the Election Commission of working to benefit the BJP. “My first demand is that he should be arrested and criminal proceedings should be initiated against him,” she said, referring to Kumar.
She claimed that 58 lakh voters were initially affected during the SIR exercise, followed by the exclusion of 27 lakh names and a further deletion of seven lakh names, taking the total number of affected voters, according to her, to 92 lakh. She alleged that technology and officials favouring the BJP had been used in the process.
Banerjee also sought criminal action against officials associated with the ECI, including deputy election commissioners, IT officials and Electoral Registration Officers.
The TMC chief further alleged that electronic voting machines had been “hijacked” and raised questions over a fire at the South 24 Parganas district magistrate’s office in Alipore, where EVMs were stored. She claimed that there had been no fire on the first three floors but that one later broke out in the area where the machines were kept.
