KOLKATA: The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday strongly criticised the Election Commission of India and warned that it would not allow the upcoming Assembly elections, scheduled for April–May, to be held in the state if the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not conducted properly and the party’s claims and objections are ignored.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharyya, while speaking to the media, demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar make an on-the-spot visit to West Bengal to review how the SIR process is being carried out in the state.
Issuing a stern warning to the national poll body, Samik said the BJP would not allow the Assembly elections to take place in West Bengal if the party’s claims and objections related to the draft voters’ list published under the SIR exercise are not honoured. He also demanded that the SIR process be completed transparently to ensure that no genuine voters are removed from the final electoral rolls and no illegal voters are included.
Samik alleged that Booth Level Officers and other officials involved in the SIR exercise are denying Form 7 of the Election Commission to voters who want to register their objections and claims. The BJP leadership claimed that polling officials, including Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, are refusing to accept Form 7 in several Assembly constituencies such as Naihati, Bhatpara and Jagaddal in North 24 Parganas district, and Chinsurah in Hooghly district.
According to the BJP, local party leaders visited the concerned EROs and AEROs in these areas to submit Form 7, raising objections against fake and doubtful voters. However, the forms were not accepted by the officials, the party alleged. Samik said BJP workers had carried out booth-level scrutiny to identify residents and non-residents to check the accuracy of the published rolls, but officials were still refusing to accept objections submitted through Form 7.
“If the SIR process ends in West Bengal in this manner, we will not allow elections to take place here. Make the SIR process smooth – this is our demand to the Election Commission (EC),” the state BJP chief said.
Earlier in the day, the BJP alleged on its X handle that officials in two districts of West Bengal had refused to accept Form 7, which is meant for raising objections against the inclusion of names in the electoral rolls or for seeking deletion of names on grounds such as death or relocation.
This is believed to be the first time the BJP has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission, even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party have frequently criticised the poll panel, accusing it of bias. Samik accused the Chief Minister of making “misleading statements” about the alleged removal of 54 lakh voters from the electoral rolls.
He further claimed that the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress did not want a peaceful SIR process and instead aimed to conduct elections using a “flawed” voter list under an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. He said the Election Commission must take full responsibility for the situation and warned that the BJP would take necessary steps at the party level if the issues were not addressed.