'No Genuine Voters Will Be Dropped': Bengal CEO Holds All-Party Meeting On SIR Exercise

The battle for West Bengal has clearly begun with the state going into election mode after the announcement of the voter list revision.

The West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) held an all-party meeting

on Tuesday, which turned stormy as both the Trinamool Congress and Left parties posed pointed questions about the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.

The Trinamool Congress has vowed to “protect” voters from being “excluded” from the electoral rolls of West Bengal, which goes to polls next year alongside Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry. It launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) through national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, while simultaneously raising several key issues during the meeting.

West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal, however, said not a single genuine elector’s name will be struck off the voters’ list following the completion of the SIR. Representing the TMC at the all-party meeting were Bobby Halim and Arup Biswas.

Reacting to a report that a man from North 24 Parganas died by suicide over alleged fear of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Biswas said: “Because of your actions related to the NRC and similar exercises, many people are dying out of fear. We told the Election Commission (EC) that it must take responsibility for these deaths. We questioned the Commission, but they could not give any answer.”

He added: “Within just two to two and a half months, you are trying to strip away the voting rights of 8.5 crore people. Under whose instructions are you doing this?”

According to sources, the Left also raised concerns over how the EC could determine who is “Indian” and who is “Bangladeshi”. The TMC, meanwhile, raised questions about the BJP’s “CAA camp”, to which the poll body responded by saying it has nothing to do with it, the sources told News18.

The sources said the BJP welcomed the SIR, but raised the issue that many booth level officers (BLO) were “acting as TMC supporters”. After the meeting, BJP leader Shishir Bajoria told reporters that the death by suicide case was due to the TMC’s actions.

“There is no NRC in this state. Who is raising that issue? It is the TMC and, so, it must take responsibility for this death,” Bajoria said.

West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal presented slides and explained the SIR to all political parties, assuring them that the voter list will be “fully transparent”.

“I would like to assure you that not a single legitimate voter’s name would be excluded from the list. We are hopeful that it would be a 100 per cent fair voter list,” Agarwal told reporters after the meeting.

Agarwal said currently there are 7,66,37,529 voters in the state. “We didn’t have time in Bihar for the SIR of electoral rolls. We have got time in Bengal. So, there’s no opportunity to create any confusion. The increase in voters compared to 2002 is normal. Many people’s names have been transferred,” he said.

He said all political parties have assured of cooperation. On security of BLOs, he added: “Law and order is the state subject. State will provide all security for the BLOs. If any situation arises, we will take action accordingly.” The CEO declined to give a statement on the political parties’ reactions. “EC already said everything in their guidelines and the announcements,” he said.

(With agency inputs)