West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticized the Election Commission of India for allegedly singling out minority voters in the state during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). She claimed that approximately 90,000 voters in the minority-heavy Malda district are at risk of being removed from the final voters’ list. Banerjee expressed concern that voters from minority, backward class, and tribal communities, including prominent figures like Amartya Sen and poet Joy Goswami, are being affected by this process.
The Chief Minister, before heading to North Bengal, addressed the media at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. She mentioned the planned inauguration of the Mahakal temple in Darjeeling district later that day. Banerjee urged for calm amidst tensions in Beldanga, Murshidabad district, following the alleged killing of a local migrant worker in Jharkhand.
Banerjee appealed for peace, cautioning against provocations and attributing the unrest to deliberate efforts to incite violence in West Bengal, which she linked to the BJP and central agencies. She highlighted the targeting and deaths of migrant workers from West Bengal in BJP-ruled states, stating her government’s support for affected families. The Chief Minister refrained from commenting on the Supreme Court’s recent stay on FIRs filed by West Bengal Police against Enforcement Directorate officials regarding searches at I-PAC’s premises and its co-founder’s residence in Kolkata.
