BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla accuses TMC of inciting communal tensions over voter fraud claims

New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI): BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Saturday hit out at TMC over its allegations of fraud in voter lists, saying the issue is not about "SIR" but "Samvidhan par vaar" and "Bachao apna apna parivaar".
He criticised Mamata Banerjee's shift from opposing illegal immigrants in 2005 to now allegedly protecting their votes, saying that her party is inciting communal tensions.
"This is not about SIR; this is about 'Samvidhan par vaar' and 'Bachao apna apna parivaar.' In 2005, Mamata Banerjee used to throw papers at Somnath Chatterjee, stating how we should remove all the Rohingyas, Bangladeshis, and infiltrators who have come. Today, the same party of Mamata Banerjee is trying hard to keep the votes of the outsiders and infiltrators, and talk of inciting riots is being done by their party," he said.
Poonawalla also remarked on the decline in the quality of the SIR process since 2004, implying that TMC is using these tactics to shield their interests and target the Election Commission.
"Before 2004, SIR was conducted 12-13 times, which was good, but today's SIR is bad... Just to save their own family, they are targeting the Election Commission," he further added.
On Thursday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh levelled serious allegations against the Election Commission, claiming that they have started tampering with the voter list even before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process began in West Bengal.
Ghosh stated that there are discrepancies in the voter list, with approximately 900 voters missing in the soft copy in Ashoknagar. He accused the Commission of "silent invisible rigging" and claimed that the hard copy of the 2002 voter list and the one uploaded on the Election Commission website show significant differences.
Ghosh pointed out that in some booths, the hard copy of the 2002 voter list shows names, but the same names are missing from the soft copy uploaded on the Commission's website.
Speaking to reporters, Kunal Ghosh said, "Complaints are coming from different areas, North Bengal, Cooch Behar, North 24 Parganas. Our leadership is doing a complete analysis. Whatever steps have to be taken will be taken under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Trinamool Congress will take all possible proper steps. However, the scam is that the SIR process hasn't even begun yet, and they are currently manipulating the voter list. There is a huge difference between the hardcopy of the 2002 voter list and the one uploaded on the Election Commission website. This cannot happen. This is the scam. This is Silent Invisible Rigging. Before formally starting the process, they had begun the 'Chupi Chupi Kar Chupi' process."
He further said, "In Guma 1 gram panchayat of Howrah-2 block of Ashoknagar assembly constituency, the voter list for booth number 159 shows no record of voters. How can it be possible? A booth without voters? There are approximately 900 voters who have been eliminated in the soft copy. This is the same side goal from Amit Shah. Because infiltration is his jurisdiction. The state police have no right on the international border. The issue of infiltration is completely under the jurisdiction of the central government and the central Home Ministry. Not only in Bengal, but we also have Rohingyas and infiltrators in Tripura. Yesterday, in Tripura, some infiltrators were identified. So if Amit Shah raises the issue of infiltration, that must be treated as a world-class same-side goal." (ANI)