Kolkata, Sept. 9 -- Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said voter ID cards should be included among the documents for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Responding to the Supreme Court's order asking the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar as the 12th document for SIR, Banerjee told reporters at Kolkata airport before leaving for North Bengal: "The voter ID card is an important identity proof and Aadhaar has now been included as well.
Those who do not have it will be able to get it done. I believe EPIC should also be included."
On Monday, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had directed that Aadhaar be accepted as the 12th document to establish identity for inclusion in, or exclusion from, the electoral roll.
Banerjee, however, reiterated her party's opposition to the SIR exercise. "Three former election commissioners have boldly said that SIR is an exercise that cannot be done in two-three months but requires three-four years," she said.
She had earlier criticised the Election Commission during a rally in Kolkata on August 28 to mark the foundation day of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, the party's students' wing.
She had slammed the launch of the SIR in Bihar ahead of the upcoming polls and expressed apprehension about a similar exercise being introduced in Bengal. Banerjee had alleged that the BJP was trying to bring in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) "in the name of SIR."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.