Opposition parties in West Bengal raise concern over ‘hurried’ SIR process

After an all-party meeting at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, on Tuesday (October 28), party leaders other than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members raised concerns over the “hurried” Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Political parties expressed worry that marginalised people from different parts of the State could be left out in the exercise.

The all-party meeting at the CEO, West Bengal office was convened to formally inform parties about the initiation of the SIR process in West Bengal from October 28.

“The CEO office is ill-prepared to do the SIR process. The 2002 SIR list is not sacrosanct. BLAs should also be allowed to be from outside their zones. Election Commission of India is no one to test the citizenship of people,” Sujan Chakraborty, senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said. He also raised questions about people who have lost their documents in the north Bengal floods and young voters who are not in the 2002 list but also do not have parents to prove their identity history.

“The 2002 SIR took two years to complete. Why are they trying to finish the new process within two months? Why is the ECI trying to destroy democracy and snatching away the rights of valid voters?” Firhad Hakim, Minister and Trinamool Congress MLA, said after meeting election commission officials. He added that they will not let any single genuine voter in West Bengal be taken off the voter list and will ensure that their votes remain secure.

He also said they will not allow the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remains in power. They also blamed the central BJP government for the death of a man in Kolkata who apparently died by suicide owing to fear of the NRC process. BJP leaders, however, shifted the blame to Trinamool leaders and said that the fear of the NRC was stoked among Bengalis by the ruling party in West Bengal.

BJP leaders said that the Trinamool has shown a marked change in tone on the SIR process. “Trinamool has changed its tone. Earlier, it was ‘not a single voter should be excluded.’ Now it’s ‘no genuine voter should be excluded.’ We have always wanted dead voters and fake voters to be removed,” Shishir Bajoria, a senior BJP leader, said. Mr. Bajoria, like other BJP leaders, claimed that at least one crore fake voters would be taken out of the West Bengal voter list if the SIR is conducted with transparency.