In a letter written to the Election Commission on Monday, which came to light on Tuesday, the Bengal BJP has raised questions over the functioning of the EC personnel posted for the publication of the draft voters’ list.
In a more serious charge, it has objected to a “sudden spike” in new voter registration which is being linked to cross-border illegal infiltration. It has also raked up the issue of Rohingya migration.
“The question of Rohingyas illegally migrating from the other side of the border and mixing into the population of the densely populated state of West Bengal cannot be ruled out,” MLA Sabyasachi Dutta wrote in the letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora.
“It has been observed lately that the constituencies sharing borders with Bangladesh have witnessed a sudden spike in new voter registration which gives an impression of illegal cross-border infiltration duly supported by the local ruling party activists. If allowed, this will not only affect the security of the country, but will also have a profound impact on the entire election process,” he complained.
The party reasoned that a spike in areas where new townships come up are understandable and hence “acceptable” to the party. However, it has objection to surges where neither new townships have come up, nor exodus has taken place.
The BJP lawmaker has even alleged that to their “utter dismay”, they have found “glaring discrepancies” in the discharge of duty by EC personnel over the handling of the draft voter list. He further alleged that those who prepared the draft list had the “main objective” to “satisfy” the ruling Trinamool Congress. He also alleged that the concerned EC personnel were indulging in such wrongdoings for their “own personal gains”.
West Bengal is slated to go to the polls early next year.
–IANS
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