KOLKATA: With directives from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) started a ‘proactive’ campaign across the state to ensure that ‘no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls.’
In a press statement issued by the office of the CEO, it said, “As per instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), 24 DEOs of the state of West Bengal have started a proactive campaign to ensure that no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls.”
The CEO’s office was prompted to take the initiative at a time when protests organised by opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc, CJP activists and Left-leaning student organisations have been rocking the national capital since last week, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The CEO has set up special camps across Bengal to ensure the inclusion of every eligible voter in the electoral rolls.
“If any person has any complaints, please feel free to contact the concerned BLO, AERO, ERO or DEO,” according to the press statement, which added, “We are committed to ensuring that no eligible voter is excluded from the voter list.”
In Bengal, the opposition parties CPI-M, Congress and the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, have been demanding the immediate restoration of approximately 38 lakh voters whose cases remain pending before tribunals formed following the directive of the Supreme Court.
At a meeting with the CEOs across states and Union Territories on October 6, the national poll body had asked them to proceed with the special drive on a war footing, beginning with camps, followed by door-to-door campaigns by booth-level officers (BLOs).
While other state CEOs raised queries about the time limit and other protocols, according to the daily, the Bengal CEO reportedly asked the poll panel whether the 38 lakh-plus voters whose cases were stuck in appellate tribunals would be part of the drive.
The Bengal CEO has requested the ECI to clarify whether voters whose cases are stuck in the state’s appellate tribunals can be considered for fresh re-enrolment in the drive to include electors ‘left out’ during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Earlier this month, the ECI directed the CEOs of the 20 states and Union Territories where it had already conducted the controversial SIR to compare the pre-SIR voter lists with the current ones and enrol, within a period of one month, those who had been ‘left out’ but were eligible, through Form 6. This notification was issued on October 2.
A citizens’ convention held on Sunday in the city denounced the contentious SIR of electoral rolls as an orchestrated campaign of exclusion to benefit the BJP and demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom speakers accused of overseeing the exercise.
