ECI should file FIR against former CEC Rajiv Kumar: Abhishek
The Statesman | 13 August 2025
Coming down heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI), Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamul Congress national general secretary suggested it should dissolve the Lok Sabha and then go for countrywide Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
“If the general election, which was held in 2024 on the basis of a faulty voter list, then the whole process should be declared as faulty. The Prime Minister, President, Vice-President, and all Union ministers must resign, by that logic. The Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh were held on a faulty voter list and so the MLAs should be asked to resign and then SIR will be carried out. The ECI is helping the BJP to secure its position. The ECI is working as an agent of the BJP.”
He was addressing the press outside the Netaji Subhas International Airport this morning.
Mr Banerjee demanded that the ECI should file FIR against the former chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar under whose supervision the faulty voter list was published. “Initiate action against him. He had supervised the publication of the faulty voter list,” he said.
Mr Banerjee categorically said if the ECI deleted even one genuine voter in Bengal, then one lakh people will gherao the ECI office in New Delhi. “The BJP has deprived Bengal for the past four years and now is trying to capture the power in Bengal by manipulating the voter list. We will not allow SIR in Bengal and will speak the language which the BJP understands”.
Mr Banerjee asked if the election commission is an autonomous body then why the BJP is defending the ECI.” The ECI is a neutral agency. It has no answer regarding SIR or else it could have replied to the questions that have been raised by the opposition. Yesterday the MPs were not only stopped by the police but they were dragged and taken to the police station. Even the women MPs were not spared. Our MP Mitali Bag felt sick. The ECI should not forget that we have been elected by people. What happened yesterday proves that if they truly had an answer, they would have met the MPs. Instead, they detained them, dragged women by their hair, lathi charged protesters, and made them sit in police stations. Our MP Mitali Bag, fell ill due to police brutality. This government behaves as if it owns the country, using every institution for its advantage. Now, it even seeks to take away citizens’ voting rights. We will not allow that.”
Criticising the BJP, he said: “The saffron party has converted the watch dog into a lap dog. It has destroyed the impartiality and sanctity of all the institutions. One voter was found to have exercised his franchise in different states. What is going on in the country. We are not going to tolerate the BJP’s attitude to convert this country into its own property.”