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‘1 crore Rohingyas, Bangladeshi Muslims’: Suvendu Adhikari calls for Bihar-like SIR in Bengal
Suvendu Adhikari, while addressing reporters in Howrah, said the state's electoral rolls are riddled with deceased voters, duplicate entries and fake voters.
Amid the ongoing political row over Bihar SIR exercise, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari called for a similar electoral roll revision in West Bengal, claiming “there are one crore Rohingya immigrants and Bangladeshi Muslim voters in West Bengal.”
Suvendu, while addressing reporters in Howrah, said the state's electoral rolls are riddled with deceased voters, duplicate entries and fake voters.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Suvendu called for immediate action by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and urged them to remove such illegal voters from the list.
Also Read | Over 65 lakh voters left out of Bihar draft voter roll, highest from Patna: EC
"There are nearly one crore Rohingya immigrants, Bangladeshi Muslim voters, deceased voters, duplicate entries, and fake voters in West Bengal. The Election Commission of India should remove these names to ensure the credibility of the voter list," Adhikari said
Suvendu's remark come at a time when the BJP-led NDA government and the opposition INDIA bloc are locking horns over the Bihar SIR exercise.
Also Read | ‘Let him detonate it’: Rajnath Singh dares Rahul Gandhi over ‘vote chori atom bomb’ claim
The opposition claims that through this exercise, the NDA is trying to manipulate the voters' list ahead of the high-stakes Bihar assembly election.
BJP's 'shielding infiltrators' charge at Mamata Banerjee
Earlier, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya accused the TMC of "orchestrating a conspiracy" to include Bangladeshis in the state's electoral rolls, asserting that the ruling party was "hearing its death knell" as it shields infiltrators to preserve its vote bank.
Also Read | Bihar SIR: Key takeaways from draft electoral roll after ECI’s revision
Bhattacharya alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led government was misusing state machinery to protect illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and the Rohingya community in order to manipulate electoral outcomes.
"From Barasat to Madhyamgram, fake voter cards have been issued to Bangladeshi nationals with the active involvement of local TMC leaders. BLOs (Booth Level Officers) are being threatened to ensure bogus names stay on the rolls," he said.
The Election Commission, however, has not yet officially responded to either of the claims.
Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' claim against ECI
Meanwhile, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, made some explosive claims, saying he has "an atom bomb of evidence" that proves the poll body's alleged involvement in "vote theft" to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Votes are being stolen. We have open-and-shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in this vote theft. And I'm not saying this lightly, I'm speaking with 100% proof. And when we release it (proof), the entire country will come to know that the Election Commission is enabling vote theft. And who are they doing it for? They're doing it for the BJP," he said.
To this, the Election Commission of India refuted the claims and urged voters not to pay heed to such allegations.
