West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that the BJP, with the help of the Election Commission, tried to cancel her nomination from Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata by trying to file false cases against her, but the attempt was thwarted by TMC workers and the public.
Banerjee, while addressing an election rally at Kishari in Paschim Medinipur district, accused the BJP of “forcibly” deleting the names of 90,000 voters from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Review (SIR).
“The BJP, with the help of the EC, tried to nullify my nomination from Bhabanipur by filing false cases against me, but we foiled their game plan,” Banerjee, who is contesting against opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari to retain her seat, said without elaborating further.
She accused the BJP of “planning to forcefully obtain votes through fraudulent means because they do not have the courage to fight and win the elections democratically.”
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She added: “This is why they deleted the names of voters. They also plan to manipulate electronic voting machines to shift the results in their favor.”
The Prime Minister said that sooner or later, justice will be done after the BJP was defeated in the Assembly elections and subsequently ousted from power in Delhi.
“More than 250 people have died due to the SIR exercise. Of the 90,000 voters removed, 60,000 are Hindus while 30,000 are Muslims… Since we speak Bengali, aren’t we Indians? Do we need to constantly prove our citizenship?” She said.
Regarding the BJP’s promise to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in West Bengal if voted to power, Banerjee said that through the UCC, the saffron party wants to impose its diktat on the people.
“It will be directed against backward communities and will aim to take away the democratic rights of the people. We will not allow it to be implemented in West Bengal. We will scrap it once the BJP is finally ousted from power in Delhi after our fourth consecutive victory in the state,” she added.
