Friday marks a crucial day in West Bengal’s political calendar, with Congress launching a vocal protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process mired in controversy. Targeting voter list manipulations ahead of assembly elections, the party insists on a flawless registry.
State PCC president Subhankar Sarkar outlined a 24-hour dharna from 2 PM before the Chief Electoral Officer’s Kolkata headquarters. ‘No eligible voter should lose their right, and no bogus entry tolerated,’ he reiterated the party’s long-held position.
Since its November 4 rollout, SIR has been plagued by complaints of voter harassment and potential mass excisions, Sarkar alleged. Citing over 1 crore hearings triggered by questionable ‘logical discrepancies,’ he questioned their judicial basis.
Sarkar lambasted Election Commission rulings that courts have had to correct repeatedly. The party’s escalated demands encompass releasing the final list on February 28, halting removals via inconsistencies, upholding registration officers’ authority, and ensuring due process for Forms 6, 7, 8.
They also demand structured re-enrollment for wrongly ousted voters with firm deadlines pre-nominations. Notably, Calcutta High Court on Thursday mandated 200 judges—split evenly from Odisha and Jharkhand High Courts—to join existing teams verifying discrepancy-hit cases.
As Bengal’s polls near, this demonstration spotlights the urgent need for electoral transparency, with Congress positioning itself as the guardian of voter rights.