Kolkata, July 28 -- The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday launched a fierce attack on the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) after a residential certificate was issued to a dog, a Golden Retriever with imaginative name "Dog Babu" in Bihar.
The ruling party in Bengal also alleged that the incident points to a deliberate manipulation of electoral rolls to disenfranchise genuine voters and facilitate voter fraud favouring the ruling party at the Centre.
The incident reportedly took place in Masaurhi block of Patna district, where a residential certificate, complete with a photo of a Golden Retriever, was issued under the name "Dog Babu."
The document listed "Kutta Babu" as the father and "Kutiya Devi" as the mother, with the address as Kaulichak Ward 15, Masaurhi. The form was reportedly signed by Revenue Officer Murari Chauhan and generated through the Right to Public Services (RTPS) portal. During a Press conference, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "We strongly oppose these outrageous errors in the voter list. The people of Bengal have risen in protest. Demonstrations are underway in Delhi and voices are rising across the country against BJP's subversion of democracy." "The malicious tampering of voter lists, using the Election Commission as a cover, exposes the dangerous game the BJP is playing. In Bihar, even a dog's name made it to the rolls. What exactly is the purpose of SIR? What is the need for this entire exercise when the outcome is such a mockery? If this is about cleansing the electoral roll, how did it result in a dog becoming a voter?" asked Ghosh.
Senior party leader Chandrima Bhattacharya stated: "Bengal's people are being deliberately excluded. Bengali-speaking citizens are being erased from the list. Many are being sent to detention camps.
Their right to movement is being curtailed. Their freedom of speech is being silenced. The Constitution is being trampled upon."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.