KOLKATA: Incidents of vandalism at hearing centres for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and road blockades protesting against the exercise continued on Tuesday in different districts of West Bengal.
Clashes were reported at hearing centres in different government offices including sub-divisional officer (SDO) buildings in districts like South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas on Tuesday, a day after similar incidents during hearings conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in many parts of the state.
The Supreme Court had issued a battery of directions to the national poll panel and the Mamata Banerjee government on Monday to ensure that the ongoing SIR process in the state is conducted smoothly.
The three-judge bench of the apex court had clearly stated that “officials receiving the documents/ hearing the affected person shall also certify the receiving of the documents/hearing.”
The apex court bench had also directed the state government to ensure adequate manpower to the central and state poll panels for deployment at the hearing centres.
On Tuesday, in Basanti’s Sonakhali, around 78 km south east of Kolkata in the Sunderbans, the hearing centre at the Karmatirtha government building was vandalised and a mob broke chairs and tables while the hearing process was on. The mob also chased away officials who were conducting the hearing.
Locals alleged that the poll panel officials did not issue receipts against the documents submitted by the electors summoned for hearing. The agitating residents of Sonakhli allegedly backed by the ruling Trinamool Congress later burnt tyres and blocked the main road.
Similar roadblocks were also reported from Hooghly’s Polba, around 55 km north of Kolkata, Dholahat in South 24 Parganas, around 70 km south of Kolkata, and Barasat near Kolkata since Tuesday morning. At Dholahat, the Dholahat-Ramganga road was blocked since Tuesday morning.
Last week, a block office in Murshidabad’s Farakka, around 250 km from Kolkata, and another one in North Dinajpur’s Chakulia, around 221 km west of the city, were vandalised and on-duty police personnel assaulted. A Trinamool Congress MLA Manirul Islam was allegedly involved in the vandalism in Farakka.
On Monday, a group of Trinamool Congress workers allegedly snatched the Form 7 papers from BJP men and set them on fire when the saffron party led by its district president went to Lalbag sub-division officer’s office in the district. Police allegedly remained mute spectators, BJP men said. The Trinamool Congress denied the charges.
In another incident, BJP MLA Ashok Kirtania from Bongaon Uttar in North 24 district also alleged that Trinamool men looted the Form 7 documents from BJP workers at Bongaon sub-division officer’s office.
In Hooghly, Trinamool Congress legislator Asit Majumder from Chinsurah constituency led a group that allegedly looted the Form 7 papers from BJP supporters and cut them into pieces in front of police and staff of the SDO office.
Former MP and former president of the state Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the Trinamool and BJP were deliberately trying to create trouble in the state.
“The Trinamool wants only its voters to be included in the list. The BJP also wants only its voters to remain in the electoral rolls. The people of Bengal are caught between these two forces,” he said.
He said that three Congress supporters in Murshidabad’s Jangipur were assaulted for going to submit a memorandum on the SIR process.
