West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that the App used by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state was designed by the Information Technology Cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The entire SIR process is full of errors. Often, voters who are alive are shown as deceased. The elderly citizens and seriously ill persons are being unnecessarily summoned for a hearing. The App that the Commission is using in the SIR exercise has been designed by the BJP’s information technology cell. This is illegal, unconstitutional, and undemocratic,” the Chief Minister said while interacting with the media persons at Sagar Islands in South 24 Parganas.
The Chief Minister has been extremely vocal against the ECI on the SIR issue. On Sunday, she wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, raising several objections to the SIR exercise.
On Monday, she said that she will personally plead at the Supreme Court (SC) against the ongoing SIR, highlighting the “plight” of the people because of the exercise being conducted in an “unplanned” manner.
“We are going the legal way on the SIR exercise. The Supreme Court will be functioning from Tuesday after a vacation. If necessary, I will personally plead against the SIR there. I also have a law degree, and hence I can also plead at the apex court,” Chief Minister Banerjee said at a government function at Sagar Islands on Monday.
However, Chief Minister Banerjee added that she will be pleading at the apex court not as an advocate, but as a common person. She also said that what was happening in the name of SIR in West Bengal was nothing but harassment of common people.
She also accused the CEC of running the Election Commission of India (ECI) through WhatsApp messages and attempting to deprive the people of the state of their voting rights.
