Mamata leads Oppn charge on ECI drive

Leading opposition parties on Thursday attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI) over its decision to conduct a door-to-door special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, beginning with Bihar, with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee saying the move was more dangerous than the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

In Bihar, which is scheduled to go to the polls later this year, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance signalled that it will launch a protest and emphasised that the exercise was totally impractical and would lead to the omission of names of tens of thousands of voters who cannot provide necessary documents.

“I don’t understand the reason behind the ECI move... This is nothing short of a scam. I seek clarification from the commission on whether they are trying to implement the NRC through the back door. In fact, this looks to be more dangerous than the NRC which every political party in Opposition must resist,” Banerjee said.

In Bihar, Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav along with top leaders of the six party coalition comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, three Left parties and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) are likely to hold a meeting on Friday in Patna to discuss the issue.

REFERENCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES