KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday made serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of using micro-observers to delete names of voters from the list, violating directives of the Supreme Court (SC).
Abhishek also alleged that a Special Roll Observer (SRO) was giving instructions to the micro-observers through WhatsApp chats to delete the names of voters.
Sharing screenshots of WhatsApp messages on his X account, Abhishek, accused the ECI and the SRO of issuing instructions via the messaging service.
"Can SC directives be flouted? The highest court of the land has repeatedly emphasised transparency, due process and adherence to official channels of communication. Yet we are witnessing instructions being circulated over WhatsApp rather than through formal, traceable, and accountable mechanisms,” Abhishek wrote.
“Even more disturbing are credible reports of Special Roll Observer, C Murugan, issuing instructions regarding the acceptability of birth certificates to Micro Observers in a WhatsApp group, to inflate deletion numbers. Do I need to remind the ECI of the Supreme Court’s categorical directive that the role of micro-observers must remain strictly assistive? Why is the statutory procedure being bypassed, and under whose instructions?” he added in the X post.
The poll official is accused of instructing electoral registration officers (EROs) to reject birth certificates issued by the local panchayats in the rural constituencies as proof of birth.
Abhishek said that his party would take up the issue with the SC when the matter comes up for hearing next.
The Diamond Harbour MP claimed to have “credible” information against an SRO appointed by the national poll panel, of issuing instructions via WhatsApp to allegedly inflate the numbers of deleted voters.
The apex court, while issuing a set of directives during the hearing, which was attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had stated that the final decision on inclusion and exclusion of electors rested with the EROs.
The micro-observers are not authorised to make any decisions, and all documents issued by competent authorities must be accepted by the central poll panel.
“The highest Court of the land has repeatedly emphasised transparency, due process, and adherence to official channels of communication. Yet we are witnessing instructions being circulated over WhatsApp rather than through formal, traceable, and accountable mechanisms," he wrote.
Abhishek claimed there were other anomalies in the process and called for a probe.
“Roll observers are designated district-wise, yet it is seen that login credentials linked to these observers are being accessed from a central location in Calcutta. Login data is being misused to generate queries and specifically target a certain community at the direction of the ECI’s political masters in Delhi,” Abhishek said.
“If this matter is independently examined, it will be established that the tower location and IP address of the login device differ from the actual location of the roll observer concerned.”
The Trinamool Congress said the ECI could not afford to function as a political back office.
A five-member Trinamool Congress delegation headed by its MP Mahua Moitra met the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal this evening and sought his intervention on the matter.