Kolkata, March 6 -- At a time when the spotlight is on the 60 lakh voters in the 'under adjudication' category whether they will be able cast their votes in the upcoming Assembly polls, the state CEO Manoj Agarwal on Friday stated that he has no clue as what will happen to those voters who are in under-adjudication category and the Election Commission of India (ECI) will say about this.
Agarwal's statement came on the same day that Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee started her protest against the deletion of names from the electoral rolls, strategically choosing the Metro Channel, where she had staged a high-profile dharna in 2006 that ultimately led to the ousting of the erstwhile Left Front government.
From the 2006 sit-in demonstration, when Mamata Banerjee protested the land acquisition in Singur, to 2026, when she mobilised a similar dharna for the people's electoral rights, Metro Channel always emerged as a centre of attraction for the ruling party in the state. The venue carries political significance as TMC, ahead of crucial polls, is set to intensify the poll campaign where electoral rights are being projected as a people's issue as important as the land movement in Singur. Banerjee at that time had carried out a 25-day fast. She sat on her 'Save the Constitution' dharna at the same venue in February 2019 in protest against the CBI move to arrest the then Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar from his residence.
A senior Trinamool Congress leader said that Banerjee's anti-land acquisition movement helped her to come to power in 2011, another protest, this time for people' electoral rights, will culminate in cementing her place as the CM for the four consequitive terms. The ruling party also claimed that such mobilisation could resonate with voters if the name deletion continues to dominate political discourse in the coming days. Banerjee, who often takes her fight to the streets, went to the Supreme Court this time to argue against the SIR-related concerns of what she described as an unfair electoral process.
TMC in social media on Friday stated: "The people of Bengal are seething with rightful anger and frustration. 63 lakh names have already been deleted, 60 lakh more have been put "under adjudication," and over 160 lives have been lost simply to serve the vested political interests of ONE PARTY and the insatiable lust for power of ONE MAN."
Meanwhile, the state CEO in the Assembly premises on Friday said: "The issue relating to 60 lakh people is under adjudication. It was not there in the SIR guideline. The matter has gone to the Supreme Court. Out of 60 lakh, around 6 lakh cases settled. What will happen to the remaining ECI will answer."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.