Kolkata, Nov 30 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Sunday accused the Election Commission of India of extending the deadline for electors to submit enumeration forms in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to help the BJP fulfil its alleged target of deleting more than one crore voters from West Bengal’s electoral rolls.

The move has triggered strong reactions from political parties across the state. Speaking to IANS, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said the poll panel’s decision was not taken in the interest of ordinary citizens.

“The Election Commission took this decision to help the BJP achieve its target of deleting more than 1 crore names from Bengal’s voters’ list. So far, it has been learnt that about 35 lakh names have been considered doubtful. Therefore, in a bid to help the BJP loot more votes, such a decision has been taken,” Chakraborty said.

He added that if the move had genuinely been for the welfare of citizens, the decision would have been taken much earlier and before so many lives were reportedly lost amid fear surrounding the SIR exercise.

The Election Commission on Sunday extended the deadline for electors to submit enumeration forms in nine states and three Union Territories from December 4 to December 11.

The draft roll will now be published on December 16 instead of the earlier scheduled date of December 9. The final roll will now be published on February 14 rather than the earlier date of February 7.

The CPI(M) also said the poll panel must have recognised that such a massive exercise cannot be completed in such a short time, and therefore decided to extend the deadline.

“The Election Commission has finally realised that more time is needed to complete this massive exercise. They should have understood this much earlier. Our demand is simple: names of genuine voters must not be deleted at any cost,” CPI(M) leader Kaustav Chatterjee said.

The BJP, on the other hand, said the Election Commission’s extension aims to ensure the SIR process is conducted smoothly and that no eligible voter is left out.

“The poll panel does not want voters to miss out on registering their names in the SIR process. That’s why the deadline has been extended. It wants to complete the work in the best possible manner,” senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.

–IANS

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