KOLKATA: Tension gripped Hasnabad in North 24 Parganas district as Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists took to the streets on Saturday night, furious over what they call a deliberate purge of legitimate voters from the final electoral rolls. The protests erupted hours after the Election Commission of India (ECI) released the updated voter list following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Local TMC leaders and supporters blocked Lebukhali Road by burning tires and chanting slogans against the ECI. In a dramatic escalation, they torched an effigy of Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. Traffic came to a standstill, prompting police intervention to restore order.
TMC claims the deletions target minority-dominated booths. ‘The Election Commission has systematically removed names from minority-heavy polling stations,’ a party spokesperson alleged. At Booth No. 111 in Shahpur, under Basirhat Dakshin constituency, nearly 400 out of 1,065 voters—mostly minorities—were marked as ‘deleted,’ while 120 Hindu voters remained.
‘This is a BJP-ECI conspiracy to rig the polls,’ fumed Shahjahan Moral, a local TMC leader. He pointed out that 16,125 voters from Basirhat sub-division alone have vanished from the rolls. Hasnabad falls under the same Basirhat Dakshin assembly segment.
The SIR process, aimed at cleaning up inaccuracies, has instead sparked widespread outrage across West Bengal. TMC cadres argue it’s a targeted attack on their voter base ahead of upcoming elections. Police dispersed the crowd without major incidents, but the political temperature continues to rise.
As opposition parties gear up for battle, these deletions could become a flashpoint. TMC has vowed intensified protests, demanding immediate restoration of the names. The ECI has yet to respond to the allegations, leaving the controversy simmering.