Kolkata, Mar 25 : Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday claimed that around 79 lakh “fake” names have been removed from the state’s electoral rolls during the SIR, and asserted that this would help the BJP secure more than 177 seats in the Assembly elections next month.
Addressing a meeting of party workers in Purba Medinipur district, Adhikari alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress always relied on fraudulent voters to remain in power and that the ongoing revision process began to eliminate such entries, which would help the BJP win the elections.
Using a series of metaphors to describe the deletions, the BJP leader said, “Breakfast saw 58 lakh names removed, lunch witnessed removal of seven lakh; and during evening tea, 14 lakh more names gone. Dinner is yet to be served.”
The leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly was alluding to 58 lakh names which were deleted following the enumeration phase of the SIR exercise, and an additional seven lakh names allegedly removed during the final publication of the rolls on February 28.
Adhikari further claimed that of the 32 lakh voters who were adjudicated in the first supplementary rolls published on Monday, 14 lakh names were deleted.
The poll body is, however, yet to officially confirm either the total number of adjudicated voters in the supplementary list or the deletion figure.
“So far, 79 lakh names from the contaminated voters list have been removed,” he said, claiming that “90 per cent of these fake voters used to cast their votes in favour of the Trinamool Congress”.
Adhikari alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was opposing the revision process and had approached the Supreme Court of India to halt it.
He said the SIR exercise had been carried out several times earlier, but the ruling party opposed it this time. The BJP leader alleged that the CM was trying to protect “illegal Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh, who have been the TMC’s vote bank”.
Adhikari also referred to demographic changes in the state, claiming that the Hindu population in West Bengal had declined from “85 per cent in the 1951 census to below 65 per cent today”.
Expressing confidence about the BJP’s prospects in the assembly polls to be held on April 23 and 29, he said the party’s growth in the state had been significant, recalling that it had increased its tally from three seats in 2016 to 77 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls.
“This time it will be at least 177; we will see where the upper limit will go on the afternoon of May 4 (when the poll result will be announced),” he said.
Adhikari also outlined a strategy for party workers, urging them to study the updated electoral rolls and categorise the electors as “confirmed voters, opposing voters and wavering voters”.
He further asked party workers to ensure that migrant labourers who left the state for employment return to cast their votes before the polling deadline.
“If they get 99 out of 100 votes in Muslim booths, why shouldn’t we get 100 out of 100 in Sanatani booths?” he said.
Framing the election as a fight to establish a “nationalist and Sanatani government”, Adhikari said that if the BJP came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it would implement the Ayushman Bharat health scheme in the state, provide financial assistance of Rs 3,000 to women and create six lakh government jobs based on merit.
He also urged voters to take an oath on Ram Navami to bring about “Poriborton” (change) in the state. (PTI)
