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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Sunday renewed her criticism of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, alleging that the process is being used to intimidate voters by removing their names.
Speaking at a public rally in Murshidabad, she claimed that around 500 officers had been removed in a way that could disrupt administrative work in the state. She remarked that while such disruptions might slow down functioning temporarily, normal operations would resume after the elections. Banerjee also warned that deleting names from voter lists amounts to pressuring and intimidating citizens. Additionally, she announced that a separate budget for farmers would be introduced in the future, positioning it as a key step to support the agricultural community. "This time we will bring a separate budget for farmers... 500 officers have been removed from here so that Bengal's work stops. You can halt it for 1 month, but after the elections, all work will resume. If you are striking off someone's name, you are trying to intimidate someone," said CM Mamata. CM Mamata Banerjee will take on BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in a heavyweight contest in Bhabanipur in the upcoming state polls. Banerjee, who has been an MLA from Bhabanipur since 2011, will once again look forward to retaining the seat for the fourth consecutive. However, this time with Suvendu Adhikari taking her on upfront, it may not be easy for her to retain the seat. Banerjee had earlier contested against the West Bengal LoP from Nandigram in 2021, but ended up losing to him, following which he reached Vidhan Sabha after contesting bye elections from Bhabanipur. Currently, the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal is taking place under the supervision of the judiciary. After the SIR exercise, the total number of voters in West Bengal now stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise, showing a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list. As per the Commission, 60,06,675 electors were under adjudication, and the first supplementary list of adjudicated names has been released. West Bengal Assembly will go to polls in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4. (ANI)
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