New Delhi [India], February 3 : Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that she was humiliated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during their meeting on Monday. ECI sources said that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar responded to the queries of CM Mamata Banerjee, who led the party delegation to EC, and explained to them that the rule of law shall prevail in the SIR process and anybody taking law into their own hands shall be dealt with strictly as per rules.
Amid the row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the poll bound West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee, along with Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, party MP Kalyan Banerjee, and others, met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi on Monday.
The sources said that despite the polite posture of the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners, the Trinamool Congress leader "raised false allegations, misbehaved, thumped the table and left".
"The CEC responded to her queries and explained that rule of law shall prevail and anybody taking law into their own hands shall be dealt with strictly as per the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission," a source said.
Wearing black shawls as a mark of protest, CM Mamata Banerjee asked if the Election Commission would choose the West Bengal government before the election.
CM Mamata Banerjee said, "Will the Election Commission choose the government before the election. We are watching. You have the power of the BJP. We have the power of the people. So we boycotted the meeting. They have insulted us, humiliated us. I am saying this type of Election Commission is very arrogant. He spoke with a certain attitude. Deliberately, he behaved so badly with us. He behaved badly, and he treated us badly. I said, I am sorry that we came together with you to deliver justice. We didn't get justice, but you are doing injustice and telling lies. He is a great liar. He is giving a briefing after our queries. All are junk, all are lies. We gave five letters, and he didn't reply to a single one."
She further alleged that around 2 crore people's names have been removed from the voters' list in the state.
She further said, "They say whatever they have done is right. They did not allow any outside cameramen to enter. What is done to hide democracy? They are working under the BJP's direction. First they removed 58 lakh voters then they removed 1.4 crore voters. Around 2 crore people's names have been removed from the voters' list and put under mismatch. BJP has won Haryana, Maharashtra and Bihar by manipulation. I can bring lakhs of people here in Delhi, and I can parade them in front of anybody..."
"More than 150 people died, including the BLOs, due to this SIR. I have brought 100 people with me. There are some of them who have been declared dead in the voters list, but they are alive and present here," she further said.
CM Mamata Banerjee further said that SIR should have been conducted after proper planning in election-bound states.
The Chief Minister further said, "If you had to do SIR, you should have left the election-bound states and done it with proper planning, but you didn't. You have a BJP government in Assam. You didn't do SIR in Assam, but you did it in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. What did you do to us? You removed 58 lakh people. There's a lot of mismatch and mismapping here."
CM Mamata Banerjee slammed the Election Commissioner and alleged that he was a liar.
She further added, "I am very sad. I have been involved in politics in Delhi for a very long time. I was a minister 4 times and an MP 7 times. I have never seen such an Election Commissioner who is so arrogant, who is such a liar. I told him that I respect your chair because no chair is permanent for anyone. One day you have to go... Why Bengal is being targeted. Elections are a festival in a democracy, but you deleted the names of 58 lakh people and did not allow them to defend themselves."
The sources said that TMC MLAs were openly using abusive and threatening language against the Election Commission and specially against the CEC. They were also threatening the election officials, the sources said.
"There have been incidents of vandalisation of the ERO (SDO/BDO) Offices by TMC workers/MLAs," a source said.
The sources said that no pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in work concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
They said that honorarium payable to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) should be released in a timely manner without any further delay, noting that only Rs 7,000 out of Rs18,000 per BLO has been paid as of now.
They said that EROs/AEROs provided for deployment are not of the level of SMs/Tehsildars.
The sources said the Commission has requested a proposal for the appointment of Returning Officers on January 20 as per the criteria (SM/SDO/Revenue Divisional Officer from General Administration). At present only in 67 Assembly Constituencies ROs are of the rank of SDO/SDM, they said.
The sources said West Bengal government has transferred three Electoral Roll Observes without consulting ECI. They said the ECI had requested for cancellation of transfer orders on January 27 but no action has been reported so far.
The sources also said that West Bengal Government has not registered FIR against four officers (two ERO and two AERO) and one Data Entry Operator "for their failure to perform their statutory duties and for violating data security policies by sharing log-in credentials with unauthorised persons".
There was heavy deployment of Delhi Police outside the two Banga Bhawans (West Bengal State Guest Houses) in Hailey Road and in Chanakyapuri.
"At Hailey Road, CM Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee stood beside the families affected by the SIR process, and made it clear that no pressure, no authority, and no conspiracy can crush the rights or the dignity of Bengal's people," TMC said in a post on X.
Earlier, CM Mamata Banerjee met families affected by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) at Banga Bhavan in the national capital on Monday, while alleging a politically driven attempt to suppress voters in Bengal.
She also accused the Delhi Police of failing to protect citizens and alleged that hundreds of people were wrongly shown as deceased to remove them from electoral rolls, and called the situation politically motivated.