West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission’s announcement about revising electoral rolls in Bihar was “even more dangerous” than the National Register of Citizens.

The Trinamool Congress chief was referring to a “special intensive revision” of the voter rolls that the poll body has ordered months ahead of the Bihar Assembly election. As part of the exercise, individuals whose names are not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility.

Voters born before July 1, 1987 must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004 must submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of their parents, The Indian Express reported. Those born after December 2, 2004 will need proof of date of birth for both parents, the newspaper reported.

Banerjee claimed that although the exercise began from Bihar, the real target was West Bengal, especially its migrant workers. “The Election Commission must act as an independent institution, not a mouthpiece for the [Bharatiya Janata Party],” she said.

The West Bengal chief minister alleged that through the revision of electoral rolls, the Election Commission was trying to rob young citizens of their voting rights. “Are they working to establish the NRC [National Register of Citizens]? What is their intention?”

Banerjee was referring to an updated National Register of Citizens published by the Assam government in August 2019 with the aim of separating Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in the state. As part of the exercise, residents had to prove that they or their ancestors had entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971.

More than 19 lakh persons, or 5.77% of the applicants, were left out of the final list.

Banerjee on Thursday claimed that if the revision of electoral rolls were to be extended to West Bengal, it would threaten the right to vote of citizens in rural areas. “…Voters from rural Bengal will be erased, and replaced with names from Bihar, UP, Rajasthan,” she claimed. “Students, villagers, migrant workers, even their parents, will be excluded!”

Assembly elections in West Bengal are slated to be held next year.

The Trinamool Congress chief urged the poll body to ensure that the voter list revision is done fairly, without excluding eligible voters.

The Congress also criticised the Election Commision’s new guidelines, claiming that they amounted to a “clear and explicit admission by the EC that all is not well with India’s electoral rolls”.

“These rules are arbitrary, whimsical and onerous on the estimated 8.1 crore eligible voters in Bihar in 2025,” a letter from the party’s committee tasked with looking into elections said.

Besides, Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha said the process was questionable and a “cover” to “invisibilise” people from “subaltern classes and minorities, backward and Dalits” The Indian Express reported.

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