Kolkata, March 6: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will commence an indefinite protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) starting Friday afternoon at Esplanade East in central Kolkata.
According to reports, Trinamool Congress workers and leaders will begin gathering at Esplanade East on Friday morning. The Chief Minister is expected to arrive at the protest site around 2 PM to kick off the demonstration.
A senior leader from the Trinamool Congress stated, “It has been decided that the protest will continue indefinitely. Our primary demands are that no genuine voter should be excluded from the electoral rolls and that the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal should not proceed with the exclusion of 6.3 million cases currently under judicial review.”
Interestingly, the protest site is located just 1.5 kilometers from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal. The timing of the Chief Minister’s indefinite protest coincides with the arrival of the full bench of the Election Commission in Kolkata on the night of March 8, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whose schedule is packed for the next two days.
A large stage has been set up at the protest site in Esplanade East. Although the Trinamool Congress leadership has not indicated how long the protest will last, the size of the stage and the arrangements suggest that the demonstration may continue for an extended period.
Coincidentally, the CPI(M) had also been conducting a 24-hour protest in front of the CEO’s office, which began on Wednesday afternoon and concluded on Thursday afternoon. Their demand was that elections should not be held in the state until the judicial proceedings concerning voters classified under the “logical discrepancies” category are resolved.
Biman Bose, a senior leader of the CPI(M) and president of the Left Front in West Bengal, has claimed that their representatives will raise the same demand during discussions with the full bench of the Election Commission on March 9.
The Congress party has also sent a letter to the Election Commission, echoing the demand for elections to be held only after the judicial process is completed.
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