New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to bring her battle against the Election Commission over its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls beyond the state and onto the national stage.
Till now, it was her nephew and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee who had been organising party MPs in Delhi in their tirade against the poll body.
On December 31, the three-time MP from West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency led a party delegation to meet the bench, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi.
The discussion, lasting over two-and-a-half hours, later claimed the Trinamool heir apparent, was stormy on occasions and allegedly did not address the delegation’s concerns, “except for two or three points”.
Though he raised issues similar to Rahul Gandhi’s alleging Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “unusually high strike rate” in state elections, the Trinamool leader asserted that Opposition parties, including the Congress, failed to identify and raise the alleged lapses his party has identified. He drew examples from the ruling party’s victories in Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, and Bihar, where the BJP won with overwhelming success rates, and questioned whether this pattern was merely a coincidence, almost echoing the words of the Leader of the Opposition.
Yet Abhishek Banerjee reminded, it was only the Trinamool that had pointed out pertinent issues that were allegedly leading to “vote theft” in favour of the BJP, which no other Opposition party could see.
Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee had kept her protests and demonstrations largely confined to West Bengal, though often warning the poll body of bringing it to their doorsteps in Delhi.
According to Trinamool leaders, Rahul Gandhi did present evidence of electoral fraud earlier, but their party has gone further by implementing booth-level vigilance. They believe that taking the narrative to Delhi will strengthen its position within the broader anti-BJP opposition space, enhancing both its stature and credibility.
The party Chairperson now appears all set to take the credit of “vote theft” initiative away from Rahul Gandhi, who had made the first move in this direction but gave up soon, having failed to convince others.
Following a recent Supreme Court direction that included the Election Commission displaying the names of individuals categorised under “logical discrepancies” during the SIR exercise and to provide clear guidance for submitting documents and objections, the party claimed it stood vindicated.
Also added to that elation was the late extension of the process in the state.
Mamata Banerjee firmed her Delhi plans over the weekend, say people close to her, where Tuesday’s meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the state Secretariat in Kolkata could have been more than a mere coincidence.
The Trinamool chief shares a rapport with the Uttar Pradesh opposition leader and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal that earlier reflected in the troika turning into a “pressure group” within the Opposition INDIA platform.
The Trinamool grapevine has it that Mama Banerjee may visit the Election Commission headquarters at Nirvachan Sadan, but her visit to Parliament is slated to hold meetings with some Opposition leaders. The party has repeatedly warned that if even a single legitimate voter’s name is excluded from the rolls, they will escalate the protest to Delhi with one lakh supporters.
This stance was first articulated by Abhishek Banerjee during a rally in Kolkata on November 4, the day the SIR process began in West Bengal. He reiterated the threat multiple times, underscoring the party’s determination to confront the Election Commission.
Though her visit is expected to be sans that overwhelming number of supporters, observers believe that Mamata Banerjee’s Delhi visit will serve two purposes: to amplify the voter list controversy at the national level and to consolidate Trinamool’s position against the BJP. It serves as an opportunity to project her as a vigilant force capable of detecting electoral malpractice, distinguishing itself from other opposition parties.
As Akhilesh Yadav quipped after Tuesday’s meeting, “Only ‘Didi’ can counter the onslaught of the BJP in this country”, so does the Trinamool hold hopes from the upcoming visit.
–IANS
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