'Slit my throat, but stop votebandi': CM Mamata targets BJP, EC Over West Bengal SIR exercise

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee likened the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to 'notebandi' (demonetisation) and said the Election Commission should stop the exercise immediately. Banerjee dubbed SIR as 'votebandi' and questioned the need to conduct the exercise close to elections. 

 

 

Addressing reporters at Siliguri, Banerjee said she was unable to fathom the hurry to conduct the SIR just before elections. The Trinamool Congress leader charged SIR was another form of super emergency. "The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government is harassing people in the name of SIR. Just like demonetisation was 'notebandi', SIR is 'votebandi'. It is another form of super emergency."

 

Questioning the need to conduct the crucial exercise close to polls, the West Bengal chief minister said the Election Commission will not be able to complete the exercise within a short span. "I do not understand the hurry in conducting SIR just before elections. The EC must immediately stop this exercise. The revision of electoral rolls cannot be completed in two or three months. It is being carried out forcibly," the Trinamool Congress leader charged. 

 

"BJP can send me to jail, cut my throat, but do not curb the voting rights of people," the key leader from the Opposition said. Banerjee also criticised the Goods and Services Tax and said it should be rolled back immediately. "The central government is looting people in the name of GST," she charged.

 

India