KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said the ECI has approved the use of tea garden and cinchona plantation employment records as valid documents for identity and residence for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for seven districts in the northern parts of West Bengal.
Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, also posted on X a letter dated January 11 issued by the ECI to the Chief Electoral Officer of the state.
The letter shared by Adhikari stated that the Commission has conveyed its no objection to accepting tea garden and cinchona plantation records as documents for SIR 2026 in the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur.
In the post written in Hindi, Adhikari described the decision as a "major victory" for what he called the long-neglected voices of north Bengal.
"This approval applies to the districts of North Bengal, where our hardworking tribal & forest-dwelling people and plantation workers have long been deprived of their democratic rights due to documentation hurdles and the state government's negligence," the BJP leader said.
Adhikari urged all eligible voters in these areas to come forward and enrol themselves in the electoral rolls using their plantation employment records, stating that voting rights were the true strength of the people and essential for strengthening democracy.