KOLKATA: The Congress on Tuesday accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of “shamelessness” over the Election Commission of India’s decision to include eligible voters deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bengal in the electoral rolls, while the Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool Congress alleged that the exercise was rushed to help the BJP win seats in the state and questioned why the national poll body had acted only after the deletions.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh shared a screenshot of a press release issued by the office of West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Neelam Meena on Monday.
In his post on X, Ramesh wrote, "After having delivered the assembly election to the BJP in a brazenly fraudulent manner, the CEC has had this Press Note issued. There is no limit to Gyanesh Kumar's shamelessness."
The Mamata Banerjee faction also attacked the Commission over the campaign and said that the SIR was conducted in a rushed and unplanned manner to help the BJP win seats in Bengal.
In a post on X, the party questioned why the poll body had launched a drive to include eligible voters only after their names were deleted from the electoral rolls and demanded accountability over what it described as discrepancies in the process.
Ramesh's remarks came after a national daily reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders, mostly related to the SIR process.
The EC has said that differing views and observations are part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
On the directives of the ECI, the Bengal CEO started a ‘proactive’ campaign across the state to ensure that ‘no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls.’
In a press statement, the office of the CEO said, “As per instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), 24 DEOs of the state of West Bengal have started a proactive campaign to ensure that no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls.”
The CEO's office was prompted to take the initiative at a time when protests organised by opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc, CJP activists and Left-leaning student organisations had been rocking the national capital since last week, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The CEO has set up special camps across Bengal to ensure the inclusion of every eligible voter in the electoral rolls.
“If any person has any complaints, please feel free to contact the concerned BLO, AERO, ERO or DEO,” according to the press statement, which added, “We are committed to ensuring that no eligible voter is excluded from the voter list.”
In Bengal, the opposition CPI(M), Congress and Trinamool Congress have been demanding the immediate restoration of approximately 38 lakh voters whose cases remain pending before tribunals formed following the directive of the Supreme Court.
At a meeting with CEOs across states and Union Territories on October 6, the national poll body had asked them to proceed with the special drive on a war footing, beginning with camps, followed by door-to-door campaigns by booth-level officers (BLOs).
While other state CEOs raised queries about the time limit and other protocols, the Bengal CEO reportedly asked the poll panel whether the 38 lakh-plus voters whose cases were stuck in appellate tribunals would be part of the drive, according to the daily.
The Bengal CEO has requested the ECI to clarify whether voters whose cases are stuck in the state’s appellate tribunals can be considered for fresh re-enrolment in the drive for electors ‘left out’ during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
A citizens’ convention held in the city on Sunday denounced the contentious SIR of electoral rolls as an orchestrated campaign of exclusion to benefit the BJP and demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom speakers accused of overseeing the exercise.
