Hooghly, 08 April (H.S.): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed concern over the large-scale deletion of names from the voters’ list in the state and indicated that she may move the Supreme Court again on the issue.

Addressing election rallies, Banerjee said that around 91 lakh names have been deleted from the electoral rolls after the disposal of “under consideration” voter documents, including 27 lakh in the final phase. She said there is no clarity yet on the future of these voters.

After filing her nomination from the Bhabanipur constituency earlier in the day, the chief minister termed the development “worrying” and claimed that following her legal intervention, 32 lakh names out of 1.20 crore had been restored, while around 58 lakh cases were still pending.

She questioned why the voters’ list was “frozen” before the tribunal process was completed, despite the Supreme Court allowing affected individuals to appeal. “I may be an ordinary person, but as a lawyer, I feel we should go to court again,” she said.

At a rally in Arambagh, Banerjee also took a veiled dig at the Union home minister, claiming that even families who had hosted him were not spared from deletions. She further alleged that around 62,000 names had been struck off from her own constituency.

Targeting the opposition, she asserted that such deletions would not yield any political advantage and that people would continue to support the Trinamool Congress. She compared the exercise to Assam’s NRC and accused the BJP of creating fear and confusion.

Banerjee also alleged attempts to influence voters with money and took a swipe at the prime minister, saying the Centre should “first manage Delhi” before targeting Bengal.

She added that the upcoming elections would witness an “inch-by-inch battle” and expressed confidence that the BJP would face defeat.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey