West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she walked out of a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at her office in Delhi, after a delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused her of “insulting, insulting and humiliating” her when they visited her office in New Delhi on Monday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the media with “SIR-affected” families after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner at the Election Hall (HT Photo/Sanchit Khanna)”We walked out by boycotting the CEC. We were insulted, disrespected and insulted. I have never seen such a CEC. He is so arrogant. He has treated us so badly. We meet him to get justice. We never got justice,” Banerjee told reporters in New Delhi after the Chief Election Commissioner of India (ECI) left the Election Hall.
“I have seen many CECs – SY Qureshi and TN Sheshan. They were very strong. They never became a parrot for any political party. They never became the voice of their master,” he added.
Banerjee led a 14-member delegation including TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Kalyan Banerjee and members of “SIR affected families” from West Bengal.
Banerjee and the TMC have been demanding that the ECI stop the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in states, alleging that the practice in its current form will lead to “mass disenfranchisement” and “hit the foundations of democracy”. Banerjee also accused the ECI of gross irregularities, procedural violations and administrative lapses.
ECI officials said on Monday that the CEC had responded to Mamata Banerjee’s queries and that she had yet to leave the meeting at the Election House. They said the CEC told the delegation that “the rule of law will prevail” and anyone who takes the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of the law and the powers vested in the commission.
The commission also noted the vandalism of ERO (SDO/BDO) offices by TMC workers and said that there should be no pressure or interference on officials engaged in SIR work.
Banerjee said that the TMC will fight it with the ECI and will not boycott the elections to be held later this year. “They (ECI) have taken over the government at least six months before the assembly elections. They are not allowing the government to function. They are behaving as if President’s rule has been imposed in the state,” he said.
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In Kolkata, a 14-member BJP delegation led by Suvendu Adhikari met Governor CV Anand Bose to accuse the TMC of resorting to hooliganism at hearing centres. “SIR is not being held for the first time. He wants to stop SIR. But he will not succeed. There will be no fake, fake and dead voters, Bangladeshi and Rohingya voters in the voter list. Let him shout as much as he wants. Chor mache shoar,” he added.
