SIR acceptable only if current Lok Sabha is dismantled: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, Abhishek Banerjee, said on Tuesday that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) proposed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) was acceptable only if the current Parliament is dissolved.

“If I agree with you that SIR was necessary since there were manipulations in the voters’ list, then you will also have to accept that the last Lok Sabha elections were conducted with that manipulated voters’ list. So the current Parliament should be dismantled. Since the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister were elected by that manipulated voters’ list, they should also resign. In the meantime, there were Assembly elections in some states, with a manipulated voters’ list. So the Assemblies in those states should also be dismantled,” Abhishek Banerjee told media persons outside the Kolkata Airport before leaving for Delhi in the afternoon.

At the same time, he said legal action should be initiated against former Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar since under his leadership, such elections with a manipulated voters ‘ list were conducted.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the Delhi Police used unnecessary force on the Opposition MP’s peaceful march to the ECI office on Monday.

“We had some simple questions. Why would the SIR be enforced? Why should there not be a digital voters’ list after so many years? But the ECI officials were not willing to answer these questions. So they did not allow us to enter,” Banerjee said.

The ECI on Monday issued a fact-check dismissing as “incorrect” statements issued by agitating Opposition leaders over alleged “voter list manipulation”.

Sharing details of meetings held with political parties before the publication of the draft electoral roll in Bihar, at the time of publication of the draft roll, and after the publication of the draft roll, the Election Commission of India (ECI) claimed to maintain the highest degree of transparency in the exercise.

Claiming that pure electoral rolls strengthen democracy, the ECI reissued the actual order of Special Intensive Revision in Bihar and issued links to videos carrying testimonials of representatives of political parties, including the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Left.

The ECI’s fact-check was issued on a day when the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, led a united protest march of the INDIA bloc parties from Parliament to the ECI’s office at Nirvachan Sadan in Delhi.

–IANS