1st supplementary voters' list would not have been published had I not moved SC: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata, March 24 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that the 1st supplementary list of voters referred for judicial adjudication would not have been published unless she had approached the Supreme Court in the matter.

At the same time, Banerjee also launched a scathing criticism of the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the publication of the first supplementary list at midnight on Monday.

"Why was the first supplementary list published at midnight? There is surely some political conspiracy behind this. Till now, the printed copies of the list have not been displayed at the election booth. The names that had been included in the first supplementary list were because I approached the Supreme Court in the matter," she told media persons outside the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here before leaving for North Bengal for a campaign ahead of the April Assembly elections.

Banerjee also said the Commission was afraid to bring out the first supplementary list in time. "What I heard is that the judicial officers involved in the process of judicial adjudication completed their work in time. It was the Commission who took five to six days more to publish the list on Monday midnight," she said.

The Chief Minister also gave a call to all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forces to get united against the alleged conspiracy to snatch the voting rights of the people, which, according to her, was a joint plot of the BJP and the Election Commission.

"We have to be united to ensure that the elections are conducted in a peaceful and unbiased manner. Personally, I do not need the support of any other party. But we all have to be united to protect the democracy of the country. There is no necessity to stand by me. But please stand by the common people," she said.

Banerjee also said that although the first supplementary list was published on Monday, the entire picture of how many names have been included and how many have been deleted is yet to be clear. "Now, we will have to see who all have been deleted and who all have been included," she said.

--IANS