Kolkata, July 26 The leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday, claimed that Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of West Bengal's electoral rolls will identity at least 1.25 crore of fake voters in the state mostly being illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators.
The comments from the BJP leader came in the backdrop of speculations that Election Commission (EC) is exploring options to conduct SIR in West Bengal from the first week of next month after concluding the same in neighbouring Bihar.
Speaking to the media persons on Saturday evening , Adhikari said, that if over 50 lakh voters are at the risk of being excluded from voter's list in Bihar, then about 1 crore 25 lakh names of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims will be excluded from the same in West Bengal. The Election Commission must take note of this."
However at the same time, Adkhikari assured that Hindus, Indian Muslims and Hindus who came from Bangladesh facing religious persecution will not be at the risk. "If you face any issues then remember that there was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee of your safety and now you also have my guarantee. We will hit the streets against illegal voters in West Bengal after August 15. We want the voter's list to be free of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims," said the leader of the opposition.
The first phase of the special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls concluded yesterday. With the Election Commission of India (ECI) said claiming that 92 per cent of 7.89 crore registered voters in Bihar would remain on the draft rolls to be published on August 1.
According to ECI, about 8 per cent, or approximately 65 lakh names, are likely to be removed from the draft rolls after they were found to be either deceased, registered in more than one place, permanently migrated to another place, or untraceable.
Incidentally, the EC had begun training booth level officers (BLOs) in West Bengal on Saturday, amid concerns that a special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
Taking a dig at Adkhikari for his comments, Trinamool Congress state general secretary Kunal Ghosh claimed that infiltration is also taking place in BJP-ruled Tripura.
"The BJP is trying to mislead the people by making such statements. They are issuing threats to create an atmosphere of fear. If people from Bangladesh are entering the country through West Bengal then what is Border Security Force (BSF) doing? If two persons entering illegally in Bengal then about 200 people are entering Tripura illegally," said Ghosh.
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