BJP, EC tried to invalidate my Bhabanipur candidature with ‘false cases’: Mamata at Keshiyari rally

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister and All India Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting to get her candidature from the Bhabanipur assembly seat cancelled with the help of the Election Commission of India by filing “false cases”, alleging the move was thwarted by her party workers and the public. Addressing a poll rally in Keshiyari in Paschim Medinipur district, Mamata said, “The BJP, with the EC's help, tried to invalidate my candidature from Bhabanipur by trying to file false cases against me, but we foiled their game plan.” She again accused the BJP of manipulating electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. “Over 250 died due to SIR; out of 90 lakh deleted voters in Bengal, 60 lakh are Hindus, 30 lakh Muslims,” she said, news agency PTI reported.She alleged that the deletion of voter names was part of a broader strategy to influence poll outcomes. “They are deleting voters' names. They are also planning to tinker with EVMs to turn the results in their favour,” Banerjee claimed.Raising concerns over identity and citizenship, she said, “Since we speak in Bengali, are we not Indians? Do we need to constantly prove citizenship?”The chief minister also criticised the BJP’s promise to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state if voted to power. She alleged that such a move would be “directed against backward communities” and aimed at curbing democratic rights.Mamata asserted that her party would resist any attempt to introduce the UCC in West Bengal and reiterated her political opposition to the BJP at both state and national levels.