SIR hearings turning into ‘punishment drill’ for elderly, critically ill voters: TMC

Kolkata: As the hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were underway in Bengal for the second day on Sunday, with people queuing up in front of 3,234 centres across the state, Trinamool Congress (TMC) once again alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is converting the roll revision process into a ‘punishment drill’ for people with elderly and critically ill patients who are forced to attend the hearings.

In one such instance, seventy-five-year-old Sabita Manna, afflicted by polio, was waiting for her turn in an ambulance at the Sankrail block office in Howrah district, anxiety writ large on her face over reports of discrepancies in her details as an electorate.

Her nephew Tapas Manna said: “My aunt, who has no child, could not find her name in the 2002 electoral roll. She cannot properly walk as she had been afflicted by polio at a very young age.”

He added: “While on earlier occasions she was visited by polling personnel and representatives of political parties at home and only had to come to the polling station on the day of the vote, this time they have made her physical presence mandatory.”

Sabita said from inside the ambulance: “It hurts when, at this age, you have to prove your citizenship all over again.”

Over the issue, senior TMC leader and state minister Shashi Panja raised two direct questions to the ECI. First, why are senior citizens and persons with disabilities being forcibly dragged into physical attendance for SIR hearings, when during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ECI itself enabled home voting for voters above 85 and PwDs with 40 per cent benchmark disability? Second, around 1.36 crore voters have been tagged under “logical discrepancies.” On what evidentiary basis were these citizens placed under suspicion? Why can’t the ECI publish the complete list of all such voters? she asked.

Panja also wanted to know if this category was retroactively introduced simply to fulfill the BJP’s voter deletion targets in Bengal? “We demand answers and transparency in the system,” Panja added.

Trinamool Congress in a post on X wrote: “The ECI is converting SIR hearings into a punishment drill for the people of Bengal. Elderly, critically ill, and bed-ridden citizens are being forced into attendance lines simply to preserve their inalienable right to vote.”

“In an appalling display of heartlessness, senior citizens are being wheeled in, lined up, and made to appear in hearings. Does this trigger no conscience in @BJP4India or the Election Commission? They want to exhaust our people, intimidate them, and quietly strip them of their rights,” TMC added. In another incident, in faraway Midnapore town, around 100 residents of a cluster, known as ‘Hatath colony’ among locals, came to the nearby camp.

“Only two out of ten in a house find their names in the draft roll. The rest have been called for hearing. Yes, I was born in Bangladesh, but I came here in the late 80s and have voted regularly. I have many of the 11 documents as records. Keeping my fingers crossed. I am a Hindu married to a family who have ancestral property here. They won’t allow me to be deported to any camp,” a woman, refusing to be named, said. Nirufa Khatoon, a woman voter in Barasat Kazipara area, is distraught, being called for hearing, unable to prove her father had voted in the 2002 polls.

“I am an Indian citizen born in the Kamarhati area of North 24 Parganas. After marriage, I came to Kazipara in Barasat. However, my father had died and his name does not figure in the electoral roll, while my mother had died shortly after my birth. The BLO had assured me that things will be sorted out after the hearing. I am literally on the edge,” she said with her husband standing by her side.

“NIrufa has brought the school leaving certificate, birth certificate and Aadhaar card, ration card and existing voter ID card. We hope things will be sorted as promised by the BLO earlier. Hope the AERO and micro observer will accept,” her husband said, adding he has asked his wife to properly explain all these things during the hearing. Meanwhile, the ruling party in Bengal asserted that it will not bow to BJP’s might. “Bengal will not bow. Those who treat citizenship and voting rights as dispensable will meet justice where it hurts them most. In the voting booth. Through the power of the ballot,” Trinamool added. “Instead of visiting senior citizens house - ECI is calling senior citizens during the SIR hearing. We are seeing in the media how many of them are facing issues while dealing with severe medical conditions. We condemn this. We had also submitted deputation to EC and asked them to look into this matter but nothing has been done till now,” TMC MP Partha Bhowmick said.