Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress, Monday, constituted a 10-member team of party MPs for spearheading a movement in Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
The team was constituted at the virtual organisational meeting of Trinamool Congress earlier in the afternoon, which was chaired by the party’s General Secretary and Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee.
The 10-member team of party MPs will comprise Lok Sabha members — Sudip Bandopadhyay, Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Satabdi Roy, Mahua Moitra, Sajda Ahmed, and Rajya Sabha members Derek O’Brien, Mamatabala Thakur, Saket Gokhale, and Prakash Chik Baraik.
It was also decided at the virtual meeting that besides organising the “anti-SIR” movements in the national capital, the said 10-member team of MPs will regularly visit the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters at New Delhi, meeting the top officials there, including the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, and object to the SIR system in West Bengal.
A party insider present at the virtual meeting said that during his deliberation, Abhishek Banerjee also highlighted the procedures to be followed while highlighting the points of objection of the party about the revision exercise to the ECI.
“Our (Trinamool Congress’s) General Secretary said that the 10-member MP team should raise questions on FIR not to be registered against the Commission over the suicides by common citizens out of the fear of SIR or the deaths of Block Level Officers because of the revision exercise workload, when the family members of the deceased persons have held the SIR exercise responsible for the unfortunate deaths. He also said that the MP team should highlight to the ECI about the complications arising out of the exercise being carried out in a hurried and unplanned manner within just two months,” the party insider added.
At the party’s virtual meeting, Abhishek Banerjee also said that all preparations should be in place to combat the SIR legally, and the party’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members should be vocal on this issue on the floor of the Parliament during the forthcoming Winter session of the House.
He also directed all the party legislators to reach out to the party’s booth-level agents in their respective constituencies and instruct and encourage them to be more active during the revision exercise.
He also said that the progress relating to preparatory exercises for the Assembly polls in West Bengal next year should be sent at a fortnight’s interval to the Chief Minister and the party’s supremo, Mamata Banerjee.
