Kolkata, Oct. 8 -- Former West Bengal Chief Minister and MAITC supremo Mamata Banerjee reached Delhi on Thursday amid the INDIA bloc's ongoing movement and to attend a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu over issues related to the electoral process and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). On the October 10 Jantar Mantar protest, Banerjee said she may participate, but no decision had been taken yet.
Banerjee said she had initially planned to send Abhishek Banerjee instead of travelling herself. "But since my name was included and the organisers personally requested my presence, I decided that I should go, especially when a movement is already underway, and it would not be appropriate for us to remain absent at such an important time," she said.
Speaking to reporters outside her Kalighat residence and later at Kolkata airport, Banerjee alleged that around 92 lakh names had been removed from the electoral rolls. She also alleged that shops were looted and hawkers forcibly removed at several places in the state.
Targeting the Election Commission over the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls, Banerjee alleged that voters were prevented from casting their votes and claimed that police personnel had "voted" instead. Calling them "jumla elections", she questioned how BJP leaders could predict their victory margins before polling. "The Election Commission conducted rigged voting. It was a sham election," she said.
Banerjee also alleged a "threat culture" against the media and criticised alleged attacks on political workers and their families. She also condemned the alleged attack on senior lawyer and Left leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, saying she had spoken to him and would meet him after returning from Delhi.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.