Abhishek Banerjee to lead party delegation to West Bengal CEO office on Jan 27

Kolkata, Jan 20 (LatestNewsX) Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee will visit the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal on January 27 to meet with CEO Manoj Agarwal, along with a 10-member delegation of his party leaders.

Sources in the Trinamool Congress said on Tuesday that an application via email requesting a meeting with the CEO has been sent. The move from the Mamata Banerjee-led party came a day after it claimed a major victory in the Supreme Court after it issued a set of directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that the verification of the persons put in the ‘logical discrepancies’ category as part of SIR process in West Bengal is conducted transparently, without causing stress and inconvenience to the persons.

According to party insiders, the email does not clearly state anything in this regard. The mail only says that the delegation led by Abhishek Banerjee will be visiting the CEO’s office in Kolkata to discuss several ‘important issues’ related to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

On December 31, Banerjee met with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi. A 10-member delegation also accompanied him. After the meeting, he had accused the Commission of harassing people in the name of ‘logical discrepancies.’ Following this, the Trinamool’s second-in-command also demanded that booth-level agents (BLA-2s) be allowed to be present at the hearing centres.

On Monday, reacting to the Supreme Court directives to the Election Commission of India (ECI) with regard to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal, Banerjee said the BJP’s SIR game in the state is over.

Addressing party workers in Barasat of North 24 Parganas district, Banerjee said the BJP has been defeated in court and in the days to come, it will be defeated in elections also.

“Today I heard that the Supreme Court has accepted AITC’s demand and issued a verdict that the list of logical discrepancies must be published. As far as I know, BLA 2 will also be allowed in the hearing centre. BJP’s SIR game is over. One crore names targeted to be struck off the voters’ list have been saved, and the victory belongs to the people of Bengal. Our voting rights were being threatened, but the Supreme Court has given them a firm rebuke,” said Banerjee.

The strong reaction from Banerjee came after the Supreme Court directed the ECI to publish the list of persons to whom notices have been sent, citing ‘logical discrepancies’ in the enumeration forms submitted by them. The lists have to be published in the Panchayat/Block offices.

sch/skp