Kolkata's Political Battle: Why Trinamool's Mega Rally Defies Voter Roll Revision

In the first stage, booth-level officers (BLOs) will visit every household with enumeration forms to verify voter details.

The anti-SIR rally will start from the base of the statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at Red Road in central Kolkata and conclude in front of the ancestral residence of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko in north Kolkata.

"The rally will start at 2.30 p.m. It will be led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and party general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee," said a member of the West Bengal Cabinet.

According to him, two persons in the state have already committed suicide, and another has attempted suicide, allegedly out of fear that their names might be deleted from the voters' list following the SIR exercise.

"The BJP is trying to create an atmosphere of fear in the state in the name of the SIR. So we have chosen Tuesday for the rally, as the groundwork for implementing the revision exercise will begin that day. Our single-point demand is that not even one genuine voter's name should be deleted from the electoral rolls," the Cabinet member said.

On the same day, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will lead a BJP rally at Panihati in North 24 Parganas district to counter the allegations of Trinamool Congress.

The BJP's rally will highlight what it calls the Trinamool Congress' attempt to spread panic and misconceptions about the revision exercise.

Earlier this week, Pradeep Kar (57), a resident of Panihati, allegedly committed suicide reportedly out of fear of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The BJP, however, has questioned the cause of death and accused the Trinamool Congress of misleading the public over the tragedy.

- IANS