Rahul, Mamata fighting to keep illegal infiltrators; ECI trying to eliminate them: Bengal CM

Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Tuesday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is trying to eliminate illegal infiltrators from the voters’ list while Mamata Banerjee and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, are trying to protect them.

The Chief Minister launched a scathing attack against Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi over the “infiltrator” issue while addressing the media persons in Siliguri in Darjeeling district of North Bengal.

He also accused the opposition of creating hurdles for the efforts by the Union Government to achieve the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ 2047. The Chief Minister specifically attacked his predecessor, Mamata Banerjee’s speech at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 1.

“Nobody invites her to any program these days, and not even at the inauguration of any Durga Puja pandal. And now she gave a speech at Ramlila Maidan and accused the ECI of vote theft. While the Union Government and the ECI are making all efforts to free the country and clean the voters’ list of the illegal infiltrators, Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi are making all efforts to protect them,” the Chief Minister said.

Meanwhile, BJP’s general secretary and actress-turned-politician, Smriti Irani, who was in Kolkata on Tuesday, also launched a scathing attack against the Mamata Banerjee-led previous Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal, accusing that regime of facilitating the settlement of the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators in West Bengal.

She said that during the previous Trinamool Congress regime, several illegal Bangladeshi voters were allowed to settle in West Bengal so that they became dedicated vote banks of the previous ruling party.

“Now, after losing the elections in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is going to New Delhi to be a part of the anti-ECI movement there. As for Congress, it had been its habit to blame the ECI after every electoral defeat,” Irani said on Tuesday.

Earlier, West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said that if Congress, CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress had any complaint about the results of West Bengal Assembly Elections in 2026, they should have organised the movement here in the state instead of joining hands at the national capital.

“Mamata Banerjee, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Md Salim should have led a protest rally in West Bengal. Instead of doing that, the three forces are joining hands in New Delhi and organising movements there,” said Bhattacharya.

–IANS

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