West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has held the Election Commission of India responsible for the unrest in Malda, arguing that the state’s administrative authority was effectively undermined during the electoral process. Referring to the situation, she stated that powers were “taken away” from the state government, and suggested that decisions such as the removal of experienced local officials weakened the administration’s ability to manage ground realities.
“Bhartiya Janata Party and Election Commission of India are playing with fire, and yesterday’s unfortunate incident in Malda is the direct result of their dirty conspiracy. They removed and transferred experienced State Government officials and senior police officers who knew every corner of Bengal like the back of their hand. In their place, they imposed Central officers who have zero understanding of our geography, demography or ground reality. These outsiders are ill-equipped to handle local situations, and now BJP is using this isolated incident to malign the entire state and paint Bengal as lawless. This is unpardonable. If anyone is truly at fault, it is @AmitShah . For repeatedly failing in his duty to protect the people, for weakening law and order, and for playing politics with Bengal’s peace, Amit Shah must tender his resignation immediately. Bengal will not tolerate this vicious conspiracy,” CM Mamata Banerjee said during a public meeting, which she is partaking as a part of her election campaign.
The political escalation comes in the wake of strong observations by the Supreme Court of India, which took serious note of the incident and sharply criticized the West Bengal government. The Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant expressed concern over the safety of judicial officers and described the episode as a grave lapse in maintaining law and order further calling it a “calculated attempt.” Observing the deteriorating situation, Justice Kant stated, “It is the most unfortunate thing. I had been noting the developments until 2am. The state’s inaction remains highly deplorable.”
It questioned how such a situation could arise where officers of the judiciary were left vulnerable and effectively held hostage, and sought accountability from senior state officials. The Supreme Court of India served show-cause notices to top police and administrative officials, seeking an explanation on why proceedings should not be initiated against those accountable for the lapse. It also instructed the Election Commission of India to deploy central forces to safeguard judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise, as well as the government offices where the process is underway.
What has happened?
On Wednesday night, as many as seven judicial officers were reportedly held hostage for over nine hours after being gheraoed in Malda’s Kaliachak in protest against “arbitrary” deletions of mass names from Bengal under the ongoing SIR process.
Further widespread protests also broke out leaving several parts of the National Highway blocked for over 15hours. Large congregation also left several key connecting roads at halt.
Sources said, Police tried to clear blockade to resume long-distance traffic, however, protestors argued that agitation will continue unless their names were reinstated.
People from across Malda, from areas like Englishbazaar, Manikchak, Sattari, Chandipur, Sujapur blocked road with bamboo barricades. This comes after at least 30-50% of the population, which comprises of Muslim majority, were struck off from Final SIR list, in turn, leaving them under ‘adjudication’ due to what is understood to be result of ‘logical discrepancies.’ Further, public fury escalated when these names were found dropped from the adjudication list marking them as ‘deleted voters’, despite them claiming to have owned all required documents deemed necessary for verification as eligible voter.
