Mumbai, April 23 (IANS). Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the reason for the huge voter participation in the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and the first phase of elections in West Bengal is due to the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) of voter lists being conducted by the Election Commission of India.
Lauding the voting percentage in both the states, the Union Minister said, “If we look at the figures, there has been unprecedented voting in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.”
Goyal, who is also the BJP’s election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, said, “As of 1:30 pm, Tamil Nadu has recorded a 15 to 20 per cent increase in voting in this assembly election compared to the last time. I was given a responsibility in Tamil Nadu and looking at today’s voting, I am satisfied with the results.”
Crediting the increase in voter turnout to the SIR process, he said, “Though we have seen that voting is generally low in assembly elections, this voting percentage reflects the improvements made in the voter list through SIR to remove fake and dead voters and through technology.”
Emphasizing that this cause is particularly important in West Bengal, he said, “Especially in Bengal, an honest process has been implemented in a fair manner and fake voters who were not even Indian citizens have been removed.”
He further said, “This will inspire citizens to raise their voice. This time the importance of their votes will be visible in the elections.”
Reiterating BJP’s election promise of removing illegal infiltrators from Bengal, he stressed that till now fake voters and illegal infiltrators have been removed from the voter list and in future they will also be removed from the country. He said, “We have entered the elections with this promise.”
Exuding confidence, he said that the NDA will sweep both the states of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
It is noteworthy that till 5 pm on Thursday, the voting percentage in West Bengal was recorded at 89.93, which is the highest in the state in the last 15 years since 2011. 2011 was the year when the 34-year-old Left Front government in the state ended and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government was inaugurated.
Whereas in Tamil Nadu, the voting percentage till 5 pm was 82.24 percent, which is better than the 74 percent recorded in the 2021 elections.
–IANS
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