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Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee has criticised the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in West Bengal, alleging that several questions raised by the party regarding the deletion of voters' names remained unanswered.
His remarks came on the concluding day of the TMC's protest against the revision process. Addressing party workers, Banerjee said the party had raised concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar but did not receive satisfactory responses. He also referred to the Supreme Court hearing on the SIR matter on the same day, stating that the party's concerns about alleged unilateral deletions of voters had been presented before the court. "Several questions were posed to Gyanesh Kumar (CEC) but he didn't answer all of those. I thank the media for those questions. The Supreme Court heard the SIR matter today. Our suspicions that voters' names were unilaterally deleted were raised before the Court," Banerjee said. He added that the Supreme Court expressed unhappiness over the issue and directed the High Court to provide facilities for voters seeking to appeal against deletions from the electoral rolls. The Supreme Court expressed unhappiness with the EC and directed the High Court to make facilities for those who want to appeal again. Like we said -- we are on the streets, in the Court and the Parliament," Banerjee said. The protest is part of the Trinamool Congress's ongoing campaign against the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list, which the party claims has led to the arbitrary deletion of genuine voters from the rolls. Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday appealed to voters to participate actively in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections and assured that the polls would be conducted in a peaceful environment. "The Election Commission appeals to all the voters of West Bengal that the upcoming elections will be held in a violence-free and pressure-free environment. In this festival of democracy, all the voters of West Bengal must come to vote," Kumar said during a press conference. The CEC also said the Election Commission had spent two days reviewing election preparedness in the state, including discussions with booth-level officers and interactions with new voters who were symbolically issued EPIC cards. However, tensions between the TMC and the Election Commission were visible during Kumar's visit, as party workers staged a black flag protest outside the Dakshineshwar Kali temple in Kolkata, where the Chief Election Commissioner had offered prayers. West Bengal is scheduled to hold elections for its 294-member Legislative Assembly later this year. (ANI)
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