By Admin 
Before the assembly elections in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee has given a controversial statement regarding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Banerjee has said that if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had not held a constitutional post, he would have cut off his finger.
Kalyan Banerjee alleged that the Election Commission chief behaved ‘very poorly’ with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Senior TMC leader Banerjee made this comment during a speech at a rally organized in Kolkata in the state to protest against the alleged arbitrary deletion of names from the voter list after the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of the Election Commission.
How dare CEC point a finger at CM – Kalyan Banerjee
Last month, when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to Delhi to meet CEC Gyanesh Kumar to register her protest against SIR, referring to the alleged dispute between Kumar and Banerjee, Srirampur MP Kalyan Banerjee said, ‘The CEC treated her (Mamata) very badly. He dared to point a finger at the Chief Minister. Had he not been CEC, I would have cut off his finger the same day.
BJP angry over Kalyan Banerjee’s statement
This statement of the TMC MP drew sharp reactions in political circles. Opposition leaders criticized the language used against constitutional authority. BJP leader Subhendu Adhikari said, ‘These comments reflect the mentality of Trinamool Congress, which has no respect for democracy or constitutional institutions.’
Kalyan Banerjee has been one of the most vocal critics of the Election Commission over the recent revision of voter lists in the state ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal. On March 1, the Trinamool Congress leader had expressed concern over the delay in disposal of cases related to voter list revision. It was claimed that despite the instructions of the Supreme Court, lakhs of cases are pending.
How many voters’ names were deleted after SIR in Bengal?
TMC has further increased the political tension with this protest just days after the Election Commission published the voter list after SIR. These voter lists have brought about a lot of changes in the composition of the voters of the state. According to official data released on February 28, since the start of the SIR process in November last year, about 63.66 lakh names – or about 8.3 per cent of voters – have been removed, reducing the number of voters from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.