West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India, alleging that the poll body was functioning as a “Tughlaqi Commission” under the influence of a political party.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Banerjee claimed that 58 lakh voters’ names in West Bengal had been removed with the help of artificial intelligence, allegedly by women workers linked to the BJP’s IT cell. She further alleged that the Commission was acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party and defying directives of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Minister said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process had created widespread anxiety in the state. “In Bengal, 160 people have lost their lives due to SIR anxiety and work-related pressure,” she claimed, accusing the EC of targeting voters and undermining democratic principles.
Banerjee alleged that the Commission was deleting names of Bengal’s voters on instructions from the BJP and cited what she described as “logical discrepancies” in the revision process. “The Election Commission is snatching away democratic rights and treating ordinary people like terrorists,” she said.
She also warned that if West Bengal government officers were penalised by the EC during the exercise, the state government would “100 per cent protect them.” Banerjee added that any officer demoted by the Commission would be promoted by the state government.
Claiming that Bengal was being singled out to “satisfy the BJP,” the Chief Minister said her government would continue to resist any move that, in her view, compromised the democratic rights of citizens.
