'No SIR, no election': Bengal LoP warns state govt

Kolkata, Aug 18 (IANS) West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday slammed Trinamool Congress for its opposition to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and asserted that there should be no election in West Bengal unless SIR is conducted.

The statement from the BJP leader came days after Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee asked the BJP-led central government to conduct SIR across the country and not in poll-bound states.

Addressing a news conference at a BJP party office in Salt Lake area of Kolkata, Adkhikari said, "After Bihar, Special Intensive Revision or SIR may start in this state and across the country. However, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has strongly opposed the introduction of SIR in this state.”

He added that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has warned about this from various rallies on several occasions.

“We want to make the BJP's position on SIR very clear. Our demand is 'No SIR, No Election'. The more the Trinamool Congress opposes, the longer the SIR will be prolonged. And everyone knows what the consequences of prolonging it will be,” he said.

A few days back, Abhishek Banerjee said that the Central government should be dissolved and SIR should be done across the country.

Taking a dig at Trinamool, the BJP leader further said that the Mamata Banerjee-led party wants to include illegal citizens in the voter's list.

"The Trinamool Congress has been repeatedly approaching the court regarding the SIR. Earlier, MP Mahua Moitra had approached the court regarding the introduction of SIR in Bihar. Later, the state government went to the Supreme Court and suo motu added itself as a party to the ongoing case despite not being a party. So it is clear that they want to include the names of duplicate voters, double-entry voters, Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas in the list, replacing the dead voters," said Adkhikari.

The state Opposition leader added that the Trinamool Congress has helped such people make fake voter cards so that they can vote once in Cooch Behar, once in Malda, once in Diamond Harbour and cast their last vote in Bhabanipur.

“This is a very simple calculation. They are obstructing it because of this simple calculation. But SIR is nothing new. In 2002, when SIR was conducted in West Bengal, 26 lakh names were cancelled,” he said.

--IANS

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