‘SIR is votebandi’: Mamata slams EC, Centre over voter list revision

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has termed the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “votebandi”, alleging it was being conducted forcibly ahead of elections. She urged the Election Commission to stop the exercise and criticised GST as a “blunder

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday dubbed the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “votebandi”, and urged the Election Commission to immediately stop the exercise.

Banerjee also said she was unable to fathom the “hurry” to conduct the SIR just before elections. “The BJP-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,” she told reporters in Siliguri.

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“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 CM alleged.

Banerjee asserted that the BJP can send her to jail or “even cut my throat” for speaking out against SIR, but do not curb the voting rights of people. The Chief Minister also criticised the Goods and Services Tax, calling it a “blunder” that should be rolled back. “The central government is looting people in the name of GST,” alleged Banerjee.