Mamata in Matua belt warns of voter delisting under CAA, dubs EC 'BJP Commission’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the EC for the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls, claiming that voters in Matua-majority areas in the state would be “immediately delisted” if they declared themselves foreigners under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Banerjee, addressing an anti-SIR rally here, also vowed to “shake” the BJP’s foundation across the country if she was challenged in Bengal. She alleged that the Election Commission was “no longer an impartial body, but has turned into a BJP Commission”.

The CM asserted that she had told the BJP “umpteen times” that it cannot “fight and defeat” her politically. Banerjee also questioned why the SIR was being conducted in BJP-ruled states if the aim was to remove “illegal Bangladeshis”, wondering whether the saffron party was “accepting that there are ‘ghuspaithiyas’ in double-engine ruled states”. She claimed that the draft voter list would reveal “the disastrous situation created by the Election Commission and the BJP”. Banerjee also asserted that the Bihar poll outcome was the result of the SIR, as the “Opposition couldn't gauge the BJP's game there”. “If the revision exercise is conducted over two-three years, we will support it with every possible resource,” she said.