Bengal: Abhishek to address 9,000 TMC workers as BJP begins 4-day strategy meet | Kolkata

“Banerjee is likely to lay out a strategy for party leaders on crucial issues including SIR and harassment of Bengali migrant workers in BJP-ruled states. More than 9,000 leaders and functionaries, right from a party MP to a panchayat leader, are expected to attend the virtual meeting,” a senior TMC leader said. Initially, Banerjee was supposed to virtually meet the workers on August 8.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has slammed the roll-out of SIR in Bihar, alleged that it was a ploy to surreptitiously introduce the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and vowed that she would not allow SIR in Bengal.

The chief minister, who is likely to visit Jhargram, Midnapore districts and north Bengal soon, had earlier asked Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to ensure that names of voters are not struck off from the electoral roll and people are not harassed.

The state BJP unit kicked off the organisational meeting to strengthen booth-level networks and set up organisational committees, a BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said. “Discussions would also be held on how the party leaders and functionaries would counter the TMC’s narrative on issues such as the SIR,” he added.

A senior party leader said that state BJP leaders would soon hit the roads to counter the TMC’s false narrative on SIR.

Also read: Terms of Trade| Migration, religion, language: Bengal’s new political churn

“The SIR was last held in 2022. It is a continuous process. Efforts are being made to spread a false narrative to terrorise the people. We have already told the Hindus and Indian Muslims they have nothing to worry about,” BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said.

The poll body in the state, meanwhile, has asked all political parties to submit the names of booth-level agents (BLAs) as part of the preparation for the possible rollout of the SIR in West Bengal.

“On the direction of the Election Commission of India (ECI), we have written to all the political parties in the state to appoint booth-level agents. The political parties have been asked to submit the list of BLAs, constituency-wise and district-wise, to us. We will send the list to the ECI. These steps are being taken as preparations for the SIR,” chief electoral officer of West Bengal (WBCEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal said.

Also read: ECI releases 2022 Bengal SIR data amid speculation over electoral roll revision

“The BJP doesn’t have the organisational strength to appoint BLAs in every booth across the state. On the other hand, the TMC and all the political parties were being asked to submit the names of their BLAs. This doesn’t seem to be a routine order,” TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said.

“If a Constitutional body is not allowed to work freely, then its protectors would look into it. We all want an error-free voters’ list and based on that, a free and fair election,” Bhattacharya said.

This comes days after WBCEO’s office released the data from the SIR of the electoral roll last conducted in West Bengal in 2022, a move seen as a precursor to the actual SIR exercise.

The 2003 Bihar SIR data was published days before the ECI launched the fresh exercise to revise the electoral roll, on June 28, as a reference point for the submission of identification documents.