No need to attend anti-SIR rally, keep watch: Mamata Banerjee to TMC leaders

Mamata Banerjee will lead a massive anti-SIR rally in Kolkata on Tuesday. Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s National general secretary and other senior leaders of the party from Kolkata and its adjoining areas will also attend the rally.

“Banerjee has directed ministers, particularly those from far-off districts, to stay in their own assemblies and keep a watch as the house-to-house enumeration will take off from November 4. She said this in a cabinet meeting held at the state secretariat on Monday,” said a state minister who attended the meeting.

The enumeration phase of the SIR, in which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would be visiting from door-to-door to distribute the enumeration forms, is scheduled to take off from Tuesday. This would continue till December 4. The draft electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 9.

“TMC leaders and workers from the districts have been instructed not to come to Kolkata for Tuesday’s rally. The booth level agents (appointed by political parties) will be accompanying the BLOs when the latter go from house-to-house with the enumeration forms. Leaders from Kolkata and its adjoining districts, such as Howrah, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas, have been asked to join the rally,” Abhishek Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.

TMC leaders have already said that they would take the anti-SIR protest to Delhi if the names of genuine voters are dropped from the electoral rolls through SIR. Abhishek Banerjee upped the ante against the BJP saying that a few people have died over the past few days allegedly due to SIR.

“TMC workers will set up help desks in every ward to assist the people should they face any problem during the enumeration. War-rooms have been set up in every assembly. TMC MPs and MLAs would be in-charge of these war-rooms,” Banerjee told reporters.

Meanwhile, the chief electoral officer of West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, held a meeting with all district magistrates as a part of their last-minute preparations ahead of the enumeration, officials said.

“The CEO held a virtual meeting with all the DMs and gave necessary instructions before the formal roll-out of SIR tomorrow,” a senior poll panel official said.

Last week a section of BLOs flagged concerns, during a training session in Kolkata, over security as threats from political parties have been pouring in over the past few days.

A few BLOs had even refused to join work without security and official acknowledgment.

“The poll panel officials were silent when we demanded an ‘on duty slip’ to skip school and carry out the duty of a BLO. If the ‘on duty slip’ is not provided, we will have to attend both our office and then carry out the BLO’s job. This is impossible,” a school teacher, who has been appointed a BLO, told reporters.

On Monday, a delegation of BLOs met the poll panel officials in Kolkata with a set of demands.

“The poll panel said that they would soon come up with some solutions. We are satisfied. We will start the enumeration work from Tuesday,” a BLO told reporters.

Meanwhile a BJP delegation comprising the party’s state president Samik Bhattacharya and the party’s national IT head Amit Malviya met the chief election commissioner (CEC) in Delhi on Monday.

“SIR will definitely be held in West Bengal. The ECI announced SIR in 12 states and UTs. Barring West Bengal there is no problem with SIR in any one of the states. There is a continuous effort going on in West Bengal to challenge the Constitutional body. This has to come to an end. The people have decided to end the TMC’s regime,” Samik Bhattacharya told reporters.

The BJP too will hold two rallies in West Bengal on Tuesday to counter the TMC’s rally. The Calcutta high court on Monday allowed the BJP to hold small rallies in North 24 Parganas and Burdwan while imposing some restrictions over the time of the rally and the number of people who can attend the rallies.

“Even I will hold two rallies on Tuesday. The Calcutta high court has given permission,” Suvendu Adhikari, BJP legislator and leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly, told reporters.