New Delhi Dec 21 PTI A BJP member on Tuesday accused the Congress TMC and the CPIM of including lakhs of bogus votes in the voters list and alleged that they were opposing the Election Laws Amendment Bill only to save their vote banks Participating in the discussion on the bill in Rajya Sabha Sushil Kumar Modi BJP alleged that the Trinamool Congress TMC has achieved success and won elections in West Bengal only because of this bogus list of voters He said the opposition members were opposing the bill even while they were part of the standing committee that unanimously recommended for supporting the law to amend the election laws He said linking of Aadhaar number with voters list was only optional and it is not mandatory and no name will be deleted from the electoral rolls if they do not give their Aadhaar The truth is that the Congress and TMC are opposing this bill as they have got lakhs of bogus names added to the voter lists across the country and their vote bank comprises of names which are included four times in their voter list If the TMC has won in Bengal and has been successful it is because of the bogus votes that it has got registered The TMC and Congress are opposing it because of this only the BJP leader claimed However the charge was rejected as baseless by TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray who also said he wanted to submit his dissent note and had sought time but was not granted so If the voter list is linked to Aadhaar number lakhs of bogus names who had wrongly got themselves registered all of them will be deleted and this is their fear Only to save their vote bank these people are opposing the bill Modi said further In Kerala too the CPIM has got a large number of bogus votes included in the voters list there the BJP member alleged Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in our democracy the electoral process should be cleansed and that can happen only if the electoral rolls are clean This bill will be opposed only by those who take advantage of fake voting Otherwise there is no basis of opposing this bill he said while replying to the discussion He said the entire country will welcome this bill that seeks to put an end to fake voters and remove multiple votes from electoral rolls but will not forgive those who oppose it Ram Gopal Yadav SP termed the bill as draconian and said it will disenfranchise the poor and those of weaker sections This is a draconian law which will prevent the poor who do not have Aadhaar card from exercising their franchise I oppose this bill The intention is clear he alleged G K Vasan TMCM said this bill will help put an end to fake voters and urged for its passage Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar TDP said it is another step towards electoral reforms Why is the government hesitant to bring political parties under the ambit of RTI he asked Amee Yagnik Congress opposed the bill saying It is a violation of the right of privacy granted to citizens It will disenfranchise a large number of voters and exploit the voters Mohammed Abdulla of DMK also strongly opposed the bill A Navaneethakrishana AIADMK said the government rightly brought the bill to prevent double voters and impersonation Sujeet Kumar BJD said on behalf of his party he supports the bill but has some concerns and hope the government will address these concerns We wholeheartedly support the intent of the government to weed out bogus voters This linking of voters list with Aadhaar number may lead to disfranchising some voters particularly those of weaker sections and minorities It may lead to targeted political advertisement There is also a possibility of compromising the privacy of individuals In principle we support the bill but we want the government to address our concerns he said V Sivadasan CPI-M said The government is trying to kill democracy through this bill They are trying to delete the names of voters from voters list Voting right should be given to everybody including the members who are suspended Venkataramana Rao Mopidevi YSRCP and Ram Nath Thakur JDU supported the bill Earlier Mallikarjun Kharge Anand Sharma both Congress and Derek OBrien TMC said the bill has been brought in a hurry leaving no time for them to even move motions to send it to select committees They said it was undemocratic PTI SKC SRY

New Delhi Dec 20 PTI Criticising the Centre for the passage of a Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday linking electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem the Trinamool Congress alleged that the privacy of voters would be compromised if it becomes a lawThe Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion during which some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for scrutinyIn a statement later TMC national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Ray claimed that neither the Bill has been scrutinised by the department-related parliamentary standing committee nor the government has the legislative competence to enact such a law given the Supreme Courts judgment in the Putuswamy Case whereby the limits of use of Aadhaar card was restricted Once it is implemented not only the privacy of voters will be compromised there is also scope for exclusion of genuine voters Ray added He alleged that everything has been done in a hush-hush manner and extreme haste Firstly no scrutiny by standing committee was done Secondly the Election Commission was attempted to be influenced as the PMO Prime Ministers Office asked its functionaries to join a meeting which is unprecedented he mentionedThirdly all of a sudden the Business Advisory Committee Meeting of Rajya Sabha was called on Monday evening for allocation of time for this Bill passed by Lok Sabha he saidLastly 12 of Rajya Sabha members were arbitrarily and illegally suspended keeping an eye on number game for smooth passage of the Bills in Rajya Sabha Ray who is the Chief Whip of the TMC in the Upper House mentionedHe said The TMC condemns the way Parliament has been taken for a ride and shall oppose tooth and nail this Bill tomorrow demanding that the matter be referred to select committee PTI DSP NSD NSD

Panaji : Trinmool Congress Leader  Derek O’Brien has urged the Congress to work with TMC. Their unity can defeat BJP in Goa Assembly Elections. “The mindset has to change – we are equal partners in the opposition. Let’s work together on this, rather than talk down to us. There is no need to fight. Our single goal is to defeat the BJP,” O’Brien said in a statement. This appeal from TMC leader comes after leaders of the two parties have been involved in a war of words after the TMC said it cannot wait indefinitely for the Congress to bring the opposition parties together against the BJP.

Panaji : Trinmool Congress Leader  Derek O’Brien has urged the Congress to work with TMC. Their unity can defeat BJP in Goa Assembly Elections. “The mindset has to change – we are equal partners in the opposition. Let’s work together on this, rather than talk down to us. There is no need to fight. Our single goal is to defeat the BJP,” O’Brien said in a statement. This appeal from TMC leader comes after leaders of the two parties have been involved in a war of words after the TMC said it cannot wait indefinitely for the Congress to bring the opposition parties together against the BJP.

Kolkata Aug 22 PTI The TMC on Monday claimed that the Centres National Monetisation Pipeline NMP is an example of government getting privatised by crony capitalists and demanded the immediate rollback of the anti-people decision The partys Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Ray also said that never before in the history of independent India a Union government has so helplessly surrendered to the corporate This BJP government is run by the corporate of the corporate and for the corporate This government has been completely privatised by crony capitalists Uunder the garb of National Monetisation Pipeline NMP it is actually a privatisation programme They are selling off everything -- from railways to ports and highways This is a bankrupt government We want immediate rollback of the decision he said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced the Rs-6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline NMP scheme which will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways PTI PNT RMS RMS