BJP leaders turned into EC spokespersons: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: Claiming a nexus between the BJP and the Election Commission, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday alleged that leaders of the ruling party at the Centre have become “spokespersons” of the poll panel, “eroding its autonomy”.

Interacting with reporters at the airport here upon his return from the national capital, the MP from Diamond Harbour alleged that central agencies like the Election Commission (EC) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have become “stooges of the (Narendra) Modi government”.

“They are being used by the BJP to harass opposition leaders without a shred of hard evidence,” he claimed.

The nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused BJP leader Anurag Thakur of falsely claiming that bogus voters were included in the electoral rolls of the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat.

“I had submitted proof to Anuragji about the existence of genuine voters in my seat, barring very few, like five or six who either died or moved away in the meantime. There has been no word from him on the issue afterwards.”

Asserting that “we are not afraid to face the electorate, unlike the BJP, which seeks to win by fraudulent means in collusion with the EC,” he questioned, “Why are BJP leaders like Anurag Thakur speaking in favour of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise on behalf of the EC?”

Opposition parties under the banner of the INDIA bloc have been protesting against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging the EC’s exercise was aimed at “disenfranchising voters” in the state ahead of the assembly elections due later this year.

On probes by central agencies, Banerjee said the CBI investigated him for five years but failed to submit a case diary. He also expressed alarm over what he called a breach of confidentiality in dealings with the ED.

“I handed over my documents to the ED as part of a probe. Later, I was stunned to hear a BJP leader referring to specific details from those documents. How are BJP leaders gaining access to confidential information submitted to supposedly independent agencies?” he posed.

“That makes us realise that the BJP is the EC, the BJP is the ED,” he added.

Alleging the CBI has been probing cases and jailing people without proof, the TMC Lok Sabha MP said, “Take the case of (former Delhi minister) Satyendra Jain, who is in jail for three years. The CBI could not prove anything against him. Does that make him right and the CBI wrong?”

Banerjee also took a dig at the EC for not taking suo motu cognisance of the opposition’s complaint of alleged “electoral malpractices”.

Referring to the EC asking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to submit an affidavit regarding his allegations of “vote fraud”, the TMC leader said, “The chief election commissioner has bypassed the main issue. The EC has the authority to act on its own and does not require a written affidavit to probe electoral malpractice.”

“If the EC is truly sceptical of the voter list, then the prime minister and his cabinet should resign, since they were elected based on that same list. Let them dissolve the Lok Sabha first.”

“For the past 11 years, you have seen how the BJP has run the government. Even the EC has admitted there are many dead voters. If elections in 2024 were based on such rolls, then an FIR needs to be filed and an investigation conducted,” Banerjee said.

He pointed out that the poll panel has said that if an affidavit is not filed within seven days by people whose names have been removed, then their claims are not valid.

“Is this a joke? We will oppose any such move,” said Banerjee, the leader of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.

Underlining that 65 lakh people have been removed from the electoral rolls in Bihar following the EC’s special intensive revision, Banerjee asked if the Chief Election Commissioner have the courage to resign if even one error is proven in those rolls?

On the non-release of MGNREGA funds for Bengal, he said that despite the Calcutta High Court having ordered payment of dues for 100 days’ work from August 1, the Centre has taken other legal recourse and “not a single penny has been released by the Modi government.”

About introducing an impeachment motion against the CEC in Parliament, he said, “If we were to introduce an impeachment motion, we would need to give 14 days’ notice.”

“Since Parliament ends on August 21, we may not be able to do it this session. But given how the ECI is functioning, we will certainly do it, if not now, then in the next session,” he added.

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