[ad_1]
Stepping up her opposition to Special Intensive Review (SIR), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday sent a strongly worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, demanding an immediate stop to the practice, which she described as “anarchical, coercive and dangerous”.
Banerjee noted that she has “repeatedly” raised concerns over the ongoing SIR of voter lists in the state and now she is “forced to write” to the Chief Election Commissioner as the situation has reached “deeply worrying levels”.
He alleged that the SIR in Bengal was being run in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner, which had “paralyzed the process from day one”.
The Chief Minister accused the Election Commission of imposing SIR on officials and citizens “without basic preparations, adequate planning or clear communication”, claiming that significant gaps in training, confusion over mandatory documents and the “almost impossibility” of BLOs meeting voters during working hours have made the entire process “structurally dysfunctional”.
He urged the CEC to intervene “decisively” to halt the ongoing exercise, stop “coercive” measures, provide appropriate training and support, and “completely re-evaluate” the current methodology and timelines.
“If this course is not corrected without delay, the consequences for the system, authorities, and citizens will be irreversible,” he wrote, calling it a moment that demands “responsibility, humanity, and decisive corrective action.”
The three-page letter, one of his strongest yet, paints a grim picture of booth-level officials acting “far beyond human limits”.
“They are expected to manage their core duties, many of whom are teachers and frontline workers, as well as conduct door-to-door surveys and handle complex e-submissions,” he wrote.
He warned that this would result in a “catastrophic breakdown”.
“At this pace, it is almost certain that voter data in many constituencies will not be uploaded with the required accuracy by December 4,” Banerjee said.
Under extreme pressure and “fear of punitive action”, many BLOs were being forced to file incorrect or incomplete entries, thereby risking disenfranchisement of genuine voters and “destroying the integrity of the electoral roll”.
Banerjee described some of her sharpest criticism as the Election Commission’s “unsafe” response, which was not an endorsement but a “threat”.
He alleged that the office of the West Bengal CEO is issuing show cause notices “without any justification”, threatening the already stressed BLOs with disciplinary action instead of accepting the “ground reality”.
The timing of the SIR was responsible for increasing the tension, Banerjee wrote. Bengal is at the peak of paddy harvest and in the midst of Rabi sowing, he said, with a strictly timed window, especially for potato cultivation.
“Lakhs of farmers and laborers are engaged in essential agricultural work and cannot be expected to leave the fields to participate in the SIR calculations,” he said.
But it was the human cost that Banerjee described as “unbearable now”.
He cited the suicide of an Anganwadi worker serving as a BLO in the Mall area of Jalpaiguri district, allegedly under “SIR-related pressure”, and said “many others have lost their lives since this process began”.
He said voter list revision previously used to take three years, but was “forcibly confined to three months”, creating “inhumane working conditions” and an environment of “fear and uncertainty”.
The Chief Minister warned that continuing the “unplanned, forceful campaign” would not only put more lives in danger but would also “jeopardize the validity of the electoral amendment”.
The Election Commission is yet to respond to the chief minister’s latest salvo, even as the political temperature around the SIR, which was a routine administrative exercise, continues to climb amid allegations of overreach, coercion and lawlessness.
This comes as the ECI on Wednesday urged the West Bengal administration in Nadia to complete the digitization of SIR records of the voter list by November 26, as the state moves closer to finalizing preparations for the upcoming elections.
There are 7.66 crore voters in the state, out of which 7.64 crore enumeration forms (EFs) have been distributed, which is 99.72 per cent, he said, adding that 1.48 crore forms have been digitised.
EC on head
The Election Commission on Thursday said the distribution of enumeration forms under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in nine states and three Union Territories is almost complete, with nearly 99 per cent of voters having received partially filled documents.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, SIR has already started in West Bengal. According to ANI report, Sarma said, “If people are returning to Bangladesh, it is good….”
In its daily SIR bulletin, the election authority said forms have been issued to 50.40 crore out of 50.97 crore voters, which is 98.89 per cent.
The second phase of the SIR exercise began with the enumeration phase on 4 November and will continue till 4 December.
(with inputs from agencies)
[ad_2]
