TMC says it will consult other parties to discuss impeaching EC chief for alleged SIR irregularities

The Trinamool Congress will consult other parties to consider bringing a motion to impeach Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, over the allegedly flawed manner in which the special intensive revision exercise was being conducted in West Bengal, NDTV reported.

Party MP Kalyan Banerjee was quoted as telling reporters in Delhi on Tuesday: “We are considering impeaching the Chief Election Commissioner because of the way he is conducting the SIR, which is incorrect and affects the voting rights of every citizen in the country.”

This came a day after Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of a meeting with Kumar, alleging that the Election Commission chief “insulted and humiliated” the delegation that she led.

After walking out, Banerjee had alleged that West Bengal was being “deliberately targeted” and claimed that 58 lakh voters had been removed from the rolls without being given a chance to defend themselves.

Banerjee had claimed that the Election Commission was using the special intensive revision to delete voters from Assembly seats held by TMC legislators, NDTV reported.

“In assembly constituencies of BJP MLAs, the names of a maximum of 3,000 to 4,000 voters are deleted,” Banerjee was quoted as claiming at the time. “But in constituencies held by Trinamool Congress MLAs, the number of voters deleted ranges between 40,000 and 1 lakh.”

The chief minister had also alleged that in her own constituency of Bhabanipur in Kolkata, the poll panel had a “final target” to delete 1 lakh voters from the rolls.

Banerjee had questioned why the revision exercise was not being conducted in BJP-ruled states and said it had been limited to Opposition-ruled West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The voter roll revision exercise is underway in 12 states and Union Territories. Of these, assembly elections are due in 2026 in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

‘EC plotting to delete 1 crore votes in UP’: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday echoed Banerjee’s allegations and accused the Election Commission of conspiring with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to delete the names of nearly 1 crore voters from marginalised communities during the special intensive revision exercise, The Indian Express reported.

Yadav said that his party will approach court on the matter.

“Voting is the biggest right in a democracy, and there should not be any fraud with it,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “But the EC along with the BJP has made a plan to delete the names of the PDA voters from the electoral roll through Form-7 [filled to delete names from the existing electoral roll] in the state.”

The Samajwadi Party uses the acronym PDA to refer to a social coalition of Pichda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities).

Yadav claimed that the BJP was doing this in constituencies where it was defeated during the 2022 Assembly election. He alleged that nearly 1,200 Muslim votes were deleted from just one polling station in his Lok Sabha constituency Kannauj, The Indian Express reported.

However, state BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary said that the exercise was being conducted by the Election Commission and not the ruling party, the newspaper reported.

He added that Yadav should complain to the poll panel if he has any misgivings.

State Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that some reports alleged that Form 7 was, in some cases, not submitted by the person whose name was on the document, the newspaper reported.

“Therefore, all district election officers and electoral registration officers have been instructed to ensure that whenever a Form 7 is received, they must verify it was submitted by the person whose signature it bears,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.