A "clean up" of electoral rolls is necessary ahead of an Assembly election less than six months away, Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose told NDTV Wednesday in an exclusive interview.
The Governor also told NDTV he had visited border areas in the state, which shares a 2,200-km-long border with Bangladesh, and said the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR – i.e., the contentious Election Commission-mandated voter re-verification drive – had led to a 'reverse migration'; illegal immigrants, he said, were rushing back before they were caught and deported.
These remarks came a day after the EC published a draft list, from which 58 lakh entries had been removed. This includes, the EC said, 24 lakh voters marked 'dead' and 12 lakh as 'missing'.
The publication of the list marked the end of the first phase of the SIR in the state.
Bengal's ruling Trinamool and other opposition parties in the state, including the Congress and the Left, have been fiercely critical of the Election Commission-mandated exercise, which they have claimed is meant to delete voters from minority or marginalised communities.
At a rally in Krishnanagar this month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to protest in the streets if their names were deleted. "Mothers and sisters, if your names are struck off, you have the tools, right… you have strength, right? You won't let it pass if your names are cut, right?"
On the other hand, the BJP, which the Congress and other opposition parties have accused of colluding with the Election Commission to manipulate poll results, has alleged the Trinamool is trying to protect a vote bank that includes illegal immigrants. The Chief Minister, it declared, is upset because she "fears losing power since fake and illegal voters are being removed".
A similar voter re-verification exercise was completed in Bihar in September ahead of the election in November, in which around 57 lakh names were deleted. The BJP and its ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United went on to record a dominant win in the eastern state.
Meanwhile, Bengal Governor Bose also spoke to NDTV on a number of other topics, including the controversy-filled visit of football superstar Lionel Messi to Kolkata. The World Cup-winning Argentine's blink-and-you-miss-it appearance at the city's Salt Lake Stadium triggered riots.
The Bengal government has been criticised for mismanaging the episode.
"There should be a judicial inquiry, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court to investigate the chaos… resignation of the Sports Minister is not enough."
"There were two ministers in the stadium when the chaos happened," Bose said, "I have written to the Chief Minister to take stringent action against more ministers in the Government and bureaucrats responsible for the administrative failure during Messi's Kolkata tour."
Bose also spoke about his village-level campaign against corruption and violence, saying, "I have also started a campaign for a violence-free and corruption-free West Bengal."
