KOLKATA: A Special Roll Observer's (SRO) car was attacked at Sirakol in South 24 Parganas district on Monday.
The attack took place hardly 24 hours after Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), asked his party’s Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to ensure that not a single bona fide voter’s name was removed from the final electoral rolls following the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The vehicle of C Murugan, an IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as SRO, was attacked by a group of agitating women this afternoon while he was coming out of a hearing camp near the office of a Block Development Officer (BDO). The handle lock of the car was badly damaged during the incident.
The agitators, mostly women, were protesting against the ongoing SIR exercise and the Centre’s decision to withhold funds for the job guarantee scheme under MGNREGA. They slapped the vehicle and prevented it from leaving the area. Police managed to bring the situation under control after about half an hour.
The incident took place in the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Abhishek Banerjee.
“I will not be cowed down by any kind of agitation as an IAS officer. The Election Commission has assigned me this responsibility, and I will carry out its instructions,” Murugan told reporters at the spot.
Opposition parties BJP and CPI(M) alleged that the agitators belonged to the Trinamool Congress and were instigated to attack the SRO following Abhishek Banerjee’s instructions issued on Sunday.
Significantly, South 24 Parganas district has recorded the highest number of deletions—over eight lakh names—of voters who were found to be dead, permanently shifted elsewhere, or having multiple entries, following the SIR process in the state.
“BLAs should be present at the hearing centres. If officials of the Commission do not allow them, the party will take up the matter legally,” Abhishek reportedly said at Sunday’s meeting, which was attended virtually by more than 1.2 lakh party workers and BLAs.
In another significant development, the ECI on Monday decided not to allow Booth Level Agents-2 (BLA-2) of political parties inside hearing venues.
The Commission took this step after Trinamool Congress MLA Asit Majumder allegedly disrupted a hearing process in his Chinsurah constituency in Hooghly district on Monday, demanding entry of a BLA-2 inside the venue. He was reportedly involved in a heated exchange with the concerned BDO over the issue.