'Bogus' voters: Mamata Banerjee defies EC action on Bengal poll officials; calls commission BJP's ‘bonded labourer'
Mamata Banerjee
on Wednesday escalated Bengal's direct face-off with the
Election Commission
, saying she would not act against the four state officers the EC wanted suspended.
"Two of my officers were suspended with a notice on Tuesday.
Under what law was the notice issued? You have asked them to be suspended and lodge FIR against them. It will not happen. I will not let the suspension happen.
Are you trying to intimidate the officers?" Banerjee asked after leading a "Bhasha Andolan" rally in Jhargram.
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The EC on Tuesday suspended four state officers - two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) - and asked chief secretary Manoj Pant to lodge FIRs against them and start disciplinary proceedings.
The officers had, prima facie, failed to block the entry of bogus voters into the voters' list, the EC said in its letter to Pant. The four were working in Baruipur (East) and Moyna assembly constituencies.
The CM on Wednesday asked officers not to be "afraid".
We know how to protect and will protect you even at the cost of our lives. There is still a long way to go for the assembly election," she said, asking the EC: "And you have already started suspending my officers?" Stating that it was her duty to protect not just state officers but their families as well, the CM said.
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"State employees can rest assured. You work for people all day. It is our duty to look after you and your families," she said.
The CM also alleged that the EC was nothing but the
BJP
's "slave" and was working to make the Bengal voter list "a BJP voter list" like the party's "bonded labourer".
"Are you not ashamed? Show your power. You are acting like (union home minister) Amit Shah's agents. He thinks whatever he wants will be done.
He does not listen to Ambedkar, Rabindranath or Nazrul. Who are you? You won through deception. Have you forgotten that you did not get a simple majority (in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll)?" Banerjee asked the BJP before referring to the Maharashtra assembly election, where the party was accused by the Congress of inflating its votes by manipulating the voters' list.
"You increased your votes all of a sudden. We will not let you remove voters' names from Bengal with the EC's help," she added.
Banerjee also asked the six Bengal residents, who got notices from the Assam Foreigners Tribunal, not to go to Assam. "They will put you in detention centres if you go to Assam to respond to the NRC notices. We will arrange for lawyers for you," she assured them.
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