After parading SIR ‘victims’, Didi walks out of CEC meet

New Delhi: CM Mamata Banerjee, draped in black, stormed out of a meeting with chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bengal's electoral roll on Monday, alleging that Election Commission "humiliated and insulted" the TMC delegation and the poll panel was BJP's "dalal (agent)".Talking to reporters later in front of Nirvachan Sadan — where a heavy police posse had gathered — she claimed to have warned Kumar that he would end up like Jagdeep Dhankhar, in what was seen as a reference to the sudden resignation of the former Vice-President last year. The CM said, "I respect the chair of the election commissioner but this person is a danger to the democracy."
EC sources later said that even though the CEC and the two election commissioners patiently heard the CM's concerns and offered polite explanations, "she raised false allegations, misbehaved with the officials and thumped the table before leaving in a huff".Those present in the meeting said that while Banerjee was detailing her allegations, she was asked by the EC full-bench, "What is the basis of these allegations? Why should we listen to them?"Banerjee then said, "If we are not heard, what is the point of this meeting?" Among the CM's primary demands till then was that the EC bin 1.5 crore additional SIR hearings for those with "logical discrepancies" in their forms and the poll panel own up the SIR-linked deaths.Sources said EC officials flagged repeated use of "abusive and threatening" language by TMC MLAs against EC and its field officers, as well as vandalisation of offices by TMC workers and MLAs.TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee submitted a five-page memorandum, detailing the three core issues flagged by the CM – "logical discrepancies and coercive hearings", "weaponisation" of Form 7 for mass deletion of names and singling out Bengal for "extra-legal" appointment of micro-observers. The CM — accompanied by Abhishek, MP and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee and 12 persons (some of whom have been wrongly marked as dead on the draft SIR list and others have lost their kin "because of SIR-related stress") — reached Nirvachan Sadan draped in black before their 4 pm appointment. Among the 12 persons who were part of the CM's delegation, 10 were Hindus and two Muslims.Banerjee said the TMC delegation decided to walk out of the meeting in protest. She said she had gone to meet CEC with the hope of getting justice, but that did not happen. EC's responses to TMC's concerns were "bluff and a garbage of lies", she alleged."EC has to take responsibility for the deaths that have happened due to the SIR," the CM said. Asked what she was expecting from EC, she said, "We have no expectation from EC... they are BJP's dalal, dalal, dalal.""I have not seen such a CEC like him. He is arrogant and a liar. I told him we respect your chair, but no chair is permanent for anybody. One day you have to go, but don't create this precedent. Why only Bengal is being targeted?" the CM asked.She alleged the CEC said that whatever he had done was right. "EC is acting on BJP's directions. Dhankhar also did this," Mamata said, adding that Dhankhar "even as governor in our state used to speak against us. We used to respect him... but there is a ‘lakshman rekha'".According to EC sources, while listing "blatant violations" of EC's directions by the Bengal administration, CEC Kumar firmly conveyed to Banerjee that the "rule of law shall prevail and anybody taking law into their hands shall be dealt with strictly, as per the provisions of law and powers vested in the commission"."No pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR work," a source quoted Kumar as saying. Submission of documents and SIR hearings in Bengal are set to conclude this week. The final electoral roll is set to be published on Feb 14.(With additional inputs by Tamaghna Banerjee in Kolkata)