Mamata calls ECI’s Nat’l Voters’ Day celebration a ‘tragic farce’

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday termed the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) celebration of National Voters’ Day a “tragic farce” and questioned the poll body’s right to observe the occasion.

She accused the ECI of acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that it was “snatching away people’s voting rights” and pushing citizens “to the jaws of death”, thereby destroying democracy.

Taking to her X handle on Sunday, Banerjee, who is also the chairperson of the Trinamool Congress, wrote: “Election Commission of India is celebrating National Voters’ Day today, and what a tragic farce that is! The Commission — working as His Master’s Voice — is busy now in snatching away people’s voting rights, and they have the temerity to celebrate Voters’ Day! I am deeply distressed and disturbed by their conduct today.”

She alleged that instead of complying with Supreme Court verdicts and functioning in accordance with rules and norms to protect citizens’ democratic voting rights, the poll body was “finding newer and newer pretexts in the name of logical discrepancy” to harass people and deny them their electoral rights.

“On behalf of BJP, their master, they are busy bulldozing the Opposition and destroying the foundation of Indian democracy, and yet they have the guts to celebrate Voters’ Day,” Banerjee wrote, questioning the ECI’s celebration of National Voters’ Day.

Continuing her attack, the Chief Minister asked: “You are torturing people today in an unprecedented manner. More than 130 people have died because of your torture. Can you summon — the way you are doing — persons above 85, 90, 95 years of age, and even physically challenged persons to physically appear before you to prove their credentials?”

Banerjee further claimed that stress caused by what she described as “illegal pressure” linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was leading to a series of suicides and deaths. She alleged that despite this, the poll authorities were continuing with the SIR exercise at the behest of their “political masters”.

“You have made it an NRC (National Register of Citizens) trial for citizens, particularly those belonging to minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” she wrote.

“Elections are festivals of democracy. But your partisan conduct, unilateral illegalities, dispatch of micro-observers to compound the harassment, and your push of people to the jaws of death have been destroying our democracy. Today, you have no right to celebrate Voters’ Day,” Banerjee said in her post.