Kolkata, Oct 31 (IANS) A video has gone viral showing a district chairman of the Trinamool Congress allegedly threatening to have booth-level officers (BLOs) tied up if they fail to produce the complete voters’ list from 2000 while carrying out door-to-door verification for the upcoming special intensive revision of electoral rolls, scheduled to begin on November 4.
“Today, we announce on behalf of the Trinamool Congress that every BLO, who is the Election Commission’s agent, should come with the complete voters’ list of the year 2000. Otherwise, we will tie them up,” Trinamool Congress’ Cooch Behar district chairman Girindranath Barman was heard saying in the video while speaking to the media.
Barman also said it was the duty of the Election Commission, and not of any political party, to explain why any name was missing from the rolls.
“Since the BLOs are representatives of the Election Commission, we will tie them up, as asked by our leader Abhishek Banerjee. This is a national problem, not an issue of any political party. Not a single valid voter should be left out. The minority votes are in danger,” Barman was heard saying in the footage.
Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, shared the video on social media, tagging the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, and seeking its intervention.
IANS, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Adhikari alleged that such remarks amounted to a direct attack on the Election Commission’s authority and an attempt to intimidate its field-level officers.
“This isn’t an isolated rant from a fringe thug. It’s symptomatic of TMC’s scorched-earth strategy to weaponise the special intensive revision process. They don’t want to cleanse our electoral rolls, full of ghosts, infiltrators, and fakes that have bloated West Bengal’s voter lists for decades,” Adhikari said.
“How can BLOs, often ordinary government employees, perform their door-to-door duties when TMC’s foot soldiers are openly vowing to bind and tie them up?” he questioned.
–IANS
src/pgh
