A Left Front delegation met the State’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sunil Gupta here on Monday, demanding that his office intervene in the Trinamool Congress’ attempts to disrupt the process of revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
“In several districts activists of the State, Trinamool Congress is preventing the revision of electoral rolls so that the entire process is speeded up. This is an attempt to advance the rural polls as has been announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretariat member Rabin Deb told The Hindu after the meeting.
Mr. Deb said the Trinamool was opposed to the idea of revising the electoral rolls from the very beginning and it was only after the intervention of the Election Commission of India that the process had been set in motion.
He also alleged that a section of the officials of the Commission was under pressure from the Trinamool and the process of revising the electoral rolls was not being conducted properly.
Large-scale violence
“In certain districts such as Bankura, Purulia, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, that have witnessed large-scale political violence, supporters of the Left parties are being excluded from the rolls,” he alleged.
Mr. Deb said that since the last date for revision of the electoral rolls was extended by the office of the CEO from October 31 to November 8, the publication date of the revised electoral rolls should also be pushed back to January 15 instead of January 5.
