WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre of attempting to “snatch away the voting rights” of people through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly polls. Addressing thousands of worshippers after Eid prayers at Kolkata’s Red Road, the TMC supremo alleged that the SIR exercise, which the ruling party claimed had led to large-scale deletions of voter names, was part of a “broader attempt” to influence the electoral process in the state.

 

“We will not allow (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji to take away your voting rights. We will fight till the end to protect democracy and the rights of every citizen,” Banerjee said. Her remarks come amid an intensifying political row over the electoral roll revision exercise, which the TMC has repeatedly described as an attempt to remove names of genuine voters, particularly from minoritydominated areas, ahead of the polls. Banerjee warned that any move to disenfranchise voters in the name of revision or verification of electoral rolls would be resisted by her party.