West Bengal's Trinamool Congress Protests Over Voter List Controversy

Protests Erupt in Hasnabad Over Voter List Changes

Kolkata: In Hasnabad, located in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress staged a protest against what they termed the "targeted" removal of names from the final voters' list, as reported by local police on Sunday.

Activists and leaders from the Trinamool Congress set fire to tyres and shouted slogans directed at the Election Commission of India (ECI).

During the demonstration, they also burned an effigy representing Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.

The protest led to the blockage of Lebukhali Road, halting traffic until police intervened to restore order.

Trinamool Congress representatives asserted that legitimate voters' names had been "intentionally" excluded from the electoral rolls.

"The ECI has specifically targeted booths with a high minority population, resulting in the removal of names. Approximately 400 minority voters from booth number 111 in Sahapur have been omitted from the final list. This conspiracy involving the BJP and the Election Commission will not be tolerated," claimed the party.

The final voter list was released in West Bengal on Saturday following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, which sparked protests across various regions of the state.

In total, 16,125 voters were excluded from the Basirhat subdivision, including the area in Hasnabad where the protests took place, which is part of the Basirhat South Assembly constituency.

Local reports indicate that out of 1,065 individuals registered at booth number 111 in Sahapur, 400 were marked as 'deleted' in the final voters' list.

Shahjahan Moral, the Trinamool Congress president for booth number 111, expressed to reporters, "The names of around 400 minorities have been removed from the voter list published by the Election Commission, while 120 Hindu voters remain. This exclusion is due to the booth's minority status, prompting our protests."

In response to these accusations, Palash Sarkar, president of the BJP's Basirhat district youth wing, stated, "Regardless of how much the Trinamool protests against the SIR, I want to clarify that only the names of legitimate voters will be included. The Trinamool is upset because names of illegal voters, which form part of their vote bank, have been removed from the list."