West bengal SIR: TMC, CPI(M), Congress slam EC over 'NRC-masked' SIR, question timing

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), CPI(M) and Congress expressed their disappointment post the two-hour-long all-party meeting convened by the Election Commission in West Bengal. The meeting was held to address concerns and devise a way forward for the smooth implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which starts on November 4 in 12 states, including poll-bound states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The second phase of SIR notification was announced on Monday by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi.

“It took two years to complete SIR in 2002; why are they doing this now?" asked TMC leader Arup Biswas. “They are talking about 2002, then post-2002, whichever parliaments have been set up, those who have been elected are invalid and the prime minister has to resign," said TMC leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who also reiterated that SIR is an NRC exercise in disguise. “We will revolt against CAA masked as SIR, and the way BJP and EC are hand in hand," said Hakim.

The TMC alleges that a voter in Panihati, North 24 Parganas district, allegedly committed suicide leaving behind a note saying that NRC is responsible for his death; it brought up the issue with the CEO. The CEO, however, said the matter will be addressed if the polling body receives a formal complaint.

CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty said, “The CEO is ill-prepared, we are concerned about people. Updating the voter list is the responsibility of the EC, they should not talk about citizenship.”

The Congress too expressed dissonance after the all-party meeting. “How voters will be matched with 2002? The screening has to be done within three months; is it possible? What about orphaned voters or those who lost their homes in floods?" Asked Congress general secretary Ashutosh Chatterjee.

The SIR exercise includes Booth Level Agents (BLA) provided by each of the eight recognised political parties for the 294 assembly constituencies in the state to work in tandem with 294 Booth Level Officers (BLO). The CEO requested political parties to provide BLAs for the SIR exercise. “I expect full cooperation from all political parties, and I am confident that all political parties will cooperate," said Manoj Agarwal.

Taking into account a hypothetical scenario of untoward incidents, as BLOs and BLAs might face backlash during the SIR exercise, which might prompt the need for central forces to be deployed, the CEO emphasised yet again that law and order is a state subject. “We don’t need central forces, the state forces are sufficient.”

The CEO is confident the SIR exercise will be done smoothly for the 7.6 crore electorate in West Bengal by December 4. “We saw how SIR was conducted in Bihar for 7.79 crore voters and without machine-readable data; we have everything in West Bengal. Why can’t we complete the exercise in the given period? Many things were different in 2002 (during SIR), why should we compare it?” said Agarwal.

The ECI had a virtual meeting with the EC in West Bengal on Tuesday morning. The training process for electoral officers and agents at the ground level has already begun. The training process, printing of enumeration forms, including in Bengali for rural and Bengali-speaking voters, and updating current voter data have to be completed by November 3. The BLO app will be available in the coming days for EC officials, political parties and voters, where they could check the status of their voter matching details with the 2002 SIR list and progeny mapping.

Details sought on Prashant Kishor

The Election Commission (EC) in Bihar has sought details pertaining to the duplication of Jan Suraaj leader and political strategist Prashant Kishor’s name in Bihar and West Bengal electoral lists. “ECI as not told us anything. Bihar CEO wanted a report on voter's details, which we have given," said West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Sisir Adhikari, who was present at the all-party meeting, said, “We have a big allegation, Prashant Kishor is a political strategist. Didn’t he know what he was doing? Don’t people know where they are signing? " He asked how Prashant Kishor could have his name in two constituencies, in Bihar and in West Bengal?”