Bengal SIR: ‘Violation of SC directive’, EROs unable to see AEROs’ progress on ECINet: Abhishek

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday alleged that EROs are no longer able to monitor the progress of AEROs on ECINet portal in regard to the implementation of SIR in Bengal, terming it “triple violation”.

Banerjee shared some purported screenshots of WhatsApp group chats to support his claim. “What is even more alarming is that when this serious anomaly was escalated to the chief electoral officer through the district election officers, it was met with a cavalier and dismissive response wholly unbecoming of a constitutional office,” said Banerjee.

“This is precisely the entrenched babu culture that has come to characterise the EC functioning and stood implicitly rebuked by the Supreme Court only yesterday,” he added.

“…it violates Section 13B of the Representation of the People Act, which states that electoral rolls “shall be prepared and revised by an electoral registration officer.” It also violates Section 13C of the Act, which states that AEROs are to “assist any electoral registration officer in the performance of his functions” and that they are “subject to the control of the electoral registration officer,” Banerjee posted on X.

“SECOND, it violates the explicit intent of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order dated 9 February 2026, Section 6(V) of which states in no uncertain terms that the final decision will be taken by the EROs only,” he further added.

Reminding that nobody has the right to play God with the democratic rights of Bengal’s voters, Banerjee pointed out: “Nobody, I repeat NOBODY, has the authority to play God with the democratic rights of Bengal’s voters. The BANGLA-BIRODHI ZAMINDARS who believe they can pull the strings and orchestrate a voter deletion racket must understand that they will be held accountable, both in the court of law and in the court of the people.”