Kolkata: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has triggered widespread concern and criticism after several vulnerable citizens, including a heavily pregnant woman and elderly residents, were required to attend in-person SIR hearings, despite official assurances that ailing and aged voters would be visited at home by officials.
In Murshidabad’s Kandi, a woman, Putul Das, nearing her delivery date, was reportedly summoned to appear at an SIR hearing on the very day she was due to give birth. Local Trinamool Congress leaders arranged an ambulance to transport her. A similar incident was reported from Mahalandi Panchayat, where a paralysed, bedridden elderly voter was also summoned to attend a hearing, forcing authorities to arrange ambulance transport.
Kandi MLA Apurba Sarkar said such cases highlight poor ground-level implementation of the Election Commission’s instructions, which state that persons aged 85 and above, the seriously ill, and pregnant women need not attend hearings at offices. Sarkar said ambulances were arranged free of cost in both cases to ensure compliance.
A similar incident was reported from Barasat, where a 70-plus ailing man, Sunil Barui, had appealed for his SIR hearing to be conducted at home due to serious health issues. His request was reportedly rejected, forcing him to appear at the hearing centre in an ambulance. At the centre, Barui remained lying inside the ambulance as Election Commission officials conducted his hearing and took photographs. His relative Madhuri Barui said he has been bedridden for over a year and that the family’s request for a home hearing was turned down.
In another incident from Habra municipality’s Ward No. 5, 65-year-old Santosh Das, whose name was missing from the 2002 electoral roll despite years of voting, was summoned along with his daughter Maya Sarkar. While waiting in a long queue at the Habra-I Block BDO office, Das suddenly fell ill and collapsed.
He was rushed to Habra State General Hospital, where he remains under treatment, and his hearing could not be conducted. Reacting to the incidents, the Trinamool Congress accused the Election Commission of insensitivity. “Even after allowing doorstep verification for those aged 85 and above, vulnerable citizens continue to suffer... Bengal will remember this, and Bengal will respond,” stated TMC.