NEW DELHI: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday fired fresh salvos at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and accused TMC government of being “expert in making fake voters”.
The Congress leader said that West Bengal has lakhs of fake voters helping the ruling party in rigging the elections.
“There are lakhs of fake voters here, wherever the ruling party indulges in rigging, whether it is Maharashtra or Bengal, you will definitely find fake voters there and not just one but in lakhs,” Chowdhury said.
“The Bengal government is an expert in making fake voters not from today but from many years, that is why this place is full of fake voters,” he added.
Chowdhury’s remarks came days after Mamata claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party had sent an agency named Association for Billion Minds to Bengal to replace voters’ names with those from other states like Haryana and Gujarat.
She also formed a committee to check the irregularities in the voters’ list in every district of West Bengal.
“This is directly being done from Delhi. By doing the same, they (BJP) won in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi…You have two responsibilities- defeat BJP and make Bengal win again. Don’t worry, we will win again. We are Bengal, not Delhi or Maharashtra,” Mamata had said.
Meanwhile, Bengal’s chief electoral officer refuted Mamata allegation of manipulation in the electoral process and said, “As per RP Act 1950, Registration of Electors Rules 1960 and Manual on Electoral Rolls, concerned BLOs, AEROs, EROs, DEOs and CEOs in any State/UT work for the updation of Electoral Rolls.”
“This is done with active participation of Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties. Any specific claim or objections are to be made first before the concerned 80,633 BLOs, 3,049 AEROs and 294 EROs in West Bengal,” he added.
BJP also reacted to Mamata’s charges and said that her statements were aimed to boost the morale of the party workers because she realised that she is going to lose the assembly election.
“The whole world knows TMC for its mastery in electoral malpractices and vote loot. If she truly believes in her work, why does she encourage violence? Hindus in Bengal have united, and that is why she is scared,” he said.
In 2021, TMC secured 213 seats, ensuring a comfortable majority, while the BJP won 77 seats.