Banerjee seeks count of Bangladeshis, Rohingyas deleted

Kolkata: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday said that the Election Commission must come out with the number of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas out of the 58.20 lakh names deleted after the publication of draft electoral rolls in West Bengal under the ongoing SIR.

Alleging that Bengal was being targeted selectively by the Centre since the TMC won the 2021 assembly polls in the state, he claimed that the “agenda is to harass the people of the state”.

The Trinamool Congress national general secretary also said that Bengal’s population is 10.05 crore, and the number of voter deletions in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is 58.20 lakh.

“This is just 5.79 per cent of the population, the lowest among all the states where SIR is being held,” Banerjee said while addressing a press conference here.

He demanded that the “ECI come out with the number of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas out of 58.20 lakh names deleted”.