CM Mamata files her voter forms on last day after protest; slams misleading media reports
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee finally filled up her own enumeration forms (EFs) and handed them over to the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO) at her Harish Chatterjee Street residence on Thursday afternoon, hours after she addressed a rally organised by the Trinamool Congress in Nadia district and claimed that she had not filled out her EF. Do I now need to prove my citizenship to a party of rioters? she said while addressing the crowd at the Nadia rally. Thursday was the last day for submission of EFs to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Confirmed sources in the ECI said, The EFs, which she had accepted from the concerned BLO more than a month ago, were lying at her Kalighat residence since then. She handed over the filled-up form, duly signed by her, to the BLO this afternoon. To intensify her attack on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, the Chief Minister had repeatedly said she would not fill up her own EF as a mark of protest against the Commission and the exercise. On November 4, she said she had not personally received any EF form for the SIR from any official. The Trinamool Congress supremo had dismissed media reports claiming she accepted the forms in person at her residence on Wednesday as completely false, misleading, and a deliberate attempt at spreading misinformation. She issued the rejoinder after a section of the media, including Trinamools mouthpiece Jago Bangla , reported that she personally received her EFs from the local BLO. A BLO had come to our area yesterday in discharge of his electoral duties. He came to the office at my residence, enquired about the number of voters in the premises and handed over forms, she had said. A section of the media has reported that I came out of my residence and accepted the enumeration forms personally. This information is completely false, misleading, and a deliberate attempt at spreading misinformation, she reiterated. She has been launching scathing attacks on the Commission and the BJP-led Centre, alleging that the SIR exercise is being implemented in a partisan manner by the ECI in the state. She has frequently claimed on social media and in party meetings that she has not and will not fill up any form until all citizens in the state have completed filling theirs.
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