Two days after the Election Commission of India released another list of deleted voters in West Bengal’s controversial special intensive revision, political activist Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said that deletions would “critically” affect the governing Trinamool Congress in 19-25 constituencies in the upcoming assembly polls. In the 2021 state polls, the TMC came to power by winning 215 seats against BJP’s 77 in a house of 294. 

Around 90 lakh names – or 12 percent of the total voters – have been deleted from the voter list, bringing down the total of voters from 7.66 crore to 6.77 crore. These deletions include the last round of cuts of 27 lakh of the total 60 lakh names which were under adjudication.

At the Constitution Club of India, barely a km from the Election Commission’s office, Yadav was joined by Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, economics professor Dr Dipankar Dey and Suman Bhattacharyya from Desh Bachao Ganomancho, a civil society group at a press conference titled ‘Stealing an Election? Disenfranchisement of 92 lakh voters in West Bengal and its implications for Indian democracy’. 

Yadav said that the SIR process has challenged constitutional values. “What’s happening in West Bengal in the name of SIR challenges the foundations of this republic, of our constitutional values, of our democratic institutions,”........

© newslaundry