Mamata Banerjee Stages Defiant Protest Against Voter Roll Changes

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a protest in Kolkata against voter roll deletions, accusing the BJP and EC of attempting to disenfranchise Bengali voters. The TMC has escalated its confrontation ahead of upcoming elections, alleging politically motivated deletions affecting over 1.2 crore voters.

In a dramatic resurgence of street politics, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee initiated a protest in central Kolkata on Friday. The dharna targets large-scale deletions in the state's voter rolls carried out following the SIR exercise, intensifying the TMC's opposition to the Election Commission weeks before the Assembly polls.

Staging the sit-in at the iconic Metro Channel in Esplanade, Banerjee accused both the BJP and the EC of a conspiracy to disenfranchise Bengali voters, indicating that this controversy would be pivotal in the TMC's campaign leading up to the high-stakes elections expected in April.

The protest follows official figures showing the reduction of the state's voter base by 63.66 lakh names. Additional controversy arose when TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee's remarks against the Chief Election Commissioner drew criticism, while TMC leaders emphasized continued legal and political battles to uphold voting rights.

(With inputs from agencies.)