KMC issuing birth certificates to suspicious people over SIR fears: Suvendu Adhikari
BJP's Suvendu Adhikari accused Kolkata's civic body of misusing birth certificates to manipulate electoral rolls, a claim denied by TMC officials.
KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday accused the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) of issuing birth certificates on a large scale to help “suspicious individuals” who were at risk of being removed from the electoral list during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal, a claim that was rejected by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)
“This is nothing but a blatant attempt to manipulate Electoral Rolls and undermine the Democratic process. Birth Certificates are legal documents meant for citizens of our country; generally newborns or in some extremely rare cases; people seeking genuine late registrations. Birth Certificates are not tools for political engineering, with the malafide intention of changing the demography for vested political interests,” Adhikari, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, said in a post on X.
On X, he also posted a letter addressed to Kolkata municipal commissioner Sumit Gupta, in which he sought details about the birth certificate issued by the corporation during the last month, and other statistics.
Trinamool Congress state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said Adhikari’s allegation was “preposterous”.
“The preposterous allegation is coming out of the deep-rooted frustration of BJP leaders who pinned their hopes on the SIR, thinking it would give them an advantage. Unfortunately, the SIR is rapidly eroding BJP’s support base because of the difficulties people are facing,” Majumdar said.
“Not only KMC but all municipalities and panchayats have set norms for issuing birth and death certificates. If the BJP is not satisfied, it can go to court with specific allegations,” Majumdar added.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) began the enumeration process for SIR in 12 states and Union Territories including West Bengal on Tuesday.
The Bengal BJP claimed on October 27 that the exercise would lead to the identification of at least 10 million Bangladeshi nationals in West Bengal where assembly polls will be held in 2026.
Sumit Gupta did not respond to a request for a comment.
