The political battle over Special Intensive Revision(SIR) intensifies in West Bengal with Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari meeting Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s comments on Thursday during her press conference at the State Secretariat, Nabanna.
“The Chief Minister has to provide documents to prove which officers have threatened whom, when and where," said Suvendu Adhikari. “I am giving her time till Monday, 5pm.”
Adhikari also warned of holding a ‘dharna’ 200 metres away from the Election Commission's office if it ignores discrepancies in the recruitment of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). “We don’t want any favour, we want transparency," added Adhikari.
While lashing out at BJP MP Shantanu Thakur’s comments on Thursday, saying that 1.2 crore illegally registered voters' names will be struck off the list after the SIR is conducted, Banerjee hit back at the BJP and EC, terming the SIR as a ‘backdoor NRC’ exercise. Without naming CEO Agarwal, Mamata alleged, “There are several complaints against the CEO of Bengal himself, which I will reveal at the right time. But I hope he does not overreact. He has been threatening many officers.”
While the SIR is the talking point, the EC conducts checks on the voter list every year, irrespective of whether it is an election year or not. The SIR exercise will be completed by December 2025, and the SIR list is expected to be out by January or February 2026. West Bengal Assembly elections will conclude by May 10.
After Bihar, the SIR will be conducted in West Bengal now, and EC officials have begun looking into various aspects for its smooth functioning. These include the CEO of West Bengal Agarwal and Deputy Election Commissioner of India(ECI), Gyanesh Bharati, meeting Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across 23 districts. BLOs expressed concern over threats from political parties, while the EC assured they will face no coercion. However, EC maintains that law and order are a state subject, with the EC maintaining vigilance.
SIR took place last in 2002 in West Bengal, and EC officials will verify authentic names on the list of 7.6 crore voters currently in the state. 60 per cent of voters’ names are in the 2002 SIR list. Here is how it works:
1. Voters will fill out and submit two enumeration forms after which names of current voters will be matched with the 2002 voter list.
2. If names are not in the 2002 list, the voter can be linked to their parent’s name in the 2002 SIR voter list.
3. If this too is not a possibility for the voter, relevant documents to prove date of birth and other details need to be produced online or offline.
4. 30-40days will be given from the date of announcement till the due date, after which the first draft voter list will be released in time. Voters will have a chance to appeal for changes to be made, if any, before the final list is published by early next year.
4. The SIR exercise will cover voters in the state who have migrated to other cities or countries for education or work, and checks will be done to avoid names being in two different electoral constituencies.
5. These checks can be done online or WhatsApp by the BLO.
Currently, there are approximately 7.6 crore voters in 294 assembly constituencies of West Bengal. With around 80,600 polling stations in the state, EC officials are confident that 294 Electoral Registration Officers (ELOs) in charge of each constituency will oversee the efficient functioning of ground-level checks conducted by BLOs.
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EC estimates there will be around 900 voters under each BLO and 250-300 families per polling station, which means, if a BLO visits various households in a block for two hours a day, the SIR exercise in each block will be completed within a week.
West Bengal, being a border state and infiltration being a concern, complaints made to the EC will be taken up, and the final decision of these voters will be taken by the ERO in accordance with the slated rules devised by ECI. Strict action will be taken against field-level abrasions like fake documents being procured, which question the authenticity of the voter’s identity. However, the EC estimates 80-90 pc cases being normal. |
