Didi: Bengal SIR a Farce, Contrasts Bihar, Others
TMC Chief Asks CEC To Halt Drive Again
Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has called the Election Commission's ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of voters' list a “farce” in her third letter to its boss Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday to halt the drive over the central poll body’s practices, some of which she claimed were not even followed in Bihar.
The Trinamul Congress supremo alleged, “...the IT systems being used are defective, unstable, and unreliable; instructions issued from time to time are inconsistent and often contradictory; and there is a complete lack of clarity and planning on the part of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its State-level functionaries. Collectively, these deficiencies have reduced this vital democratic exercise to a farce...”
She argued, “Although the exercise is described as time-bound, there are no clearly defined, transparent, or uniformly applicable timelines. Different States are following different criteria, and timelines are being altered arbitrarily, reflecting a glaring lack of clarity, preparedness, and procedural understanding.”
Ms Banerjee then pointed out, “Shockingly, critical instructions are being issued almost on a daily basis, frequently through informal channels such as WhatsApp messages and text messages. No proper written notifications, circulars, or statutory orders-mandatory for an exercise of such magnitude and constitutional significance are being issued. Such informality and arbitrariness leave no scope for accuracy, transparency, or accountability.”
She also underlined “grave allegations regarding the backend deletion electors through the misuse of IT systems, without following due process/and without the knowledge or approval of the Electoral Registration Officers” and questioned “who has authorised such actions and under what legal authority” while holding the EC “fully accountable for any illegal, arbitrary or biased actions.”
According to her, the Family Register, extensively accepted as a valid proof of identity during the SIR in Bihar, “is now reportedly being denied as a valid document through an informal communication issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer via WhatsApp message, without any formal notification or statutory order to that effect.”
Another contrast to the SIR in Bihar and in other states, Ms Banerjee observed, is the non-acceptability of permanent residence certificates /domicile certificates, issued by various authorities of the state government, as proof of voters' identity and migrant workers “being compelled to appear for hearings, despite being fully eligible to be enrolled as electors.”
She feared deletion of such voters’ names in the process of the SIR verification of logical discrepancies due to delay. Ms Banerjee further raised the issue of hardship and harassment of aged and ailing voters through summons to far away hearings and sought a decentralised mechanism.
Other issues flagged by the CM were the observers’ appointment ignoring her government's panel of officers, micro-observers’ engagement without consulting her government and her protest to the booth level agents’ exclusion at SIR hearings.
