Suvendu alleges efforts on to retain dead voters in rolls during SIR; TMC calls charge fabricated

Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday alleged that the West Bengal administration was trying to retain dead voters in the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), citing what he claimed a ''leaked WhatsApp message'' from the BDO of Kultali.

The ruling Trinamool Congress rejected the charge as baseless.

Adhikari, the leader of the opposition, posted on social media a screenshot of the purported chat, alleging that booth-level officers in Kultali, Joynagar and adjoining areas in South 24 Parganas district were being pressured to keep the names of deceased voters and those who have changed their residential addresses unchanged.

He claimed that ''administrative machinery is being misused'' to influence the SIR process and that officials were being instructed in ''clear violation'' of the Election Commission's guidelines.

''BDOs in several places are being used for such malpractices. Can the administration issue such directions defying ECI norms?'' he asked, urging the Commission to investigate and take ''appropriate action''.

The BJP has long accused the Trinamool Congress of opposing the SIR exercise to allegedly retain fake voters, dead voters and migrated voters to safeguard its ''vote bank''.

The TMC, which had initially resisted the revision process, continues to level its own allegations over the conduct of the exercise.

Earlier in the day, Adhikari met Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal and submitted a set of demands regarding the SIR. During the meeting, he also alleged unauthorised access by the ruling TMC's poll consultant I-PAC.

''How does I-PAC even get access to the data entry system?'' he asked, seeking a CBI probe into the matter.

Adhikari has previously accused the TMC, with I-PAC's assistance, of manipulating the voter list by keeping fake and dead voters. The Kultali episode, he said, was another instance of ''administrative subversion''.

The Trinamool Congress, however, dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

''The TMC strongly rejects these baseless claims. Suvendu Adhikari is manufacturing imaginary conspiracies because the BJP has nothing substantive to offer. He is concocting fake stories every day to stay in the headlines,'' a senior party leader said.

The Election Commission is yet to comment on Adhikari's claims.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)