ECI violating electoral norms, says TMC, submits memorandum

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of defying norms laid down by the Representation of People Act 1950 and Electoral Registration of Electors Rules 1960, in an attempt to delete two crore voters from the electoral rolls, a target set by its “political master” BJP. A TMC delegation consisting of ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya, Shashi Panja, Aroop Biswas, Manas Bhunia, Malay Ghatak met Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal at his office and submitted a memorandum listing their grievances. It accused the ECI of deleting the names of lakhs of legitimate voters from the electoral rolls under the SIR exercise to help the BJP ahead of the 2026 Bengal Assembly polls. Trinamool also submitted a memorandum to the CEO seeking answers to the points they have raised. The ruling party in Bengal alleged that the ECI was “undermining” the authorities of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) as suo motu system-driven deletion of electors from the draft electoral rolls was happening. Incidentally, the West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) Officers’ Association on Wednesday flagged the “suo motu system-driven deletion of electors from the draft electoral rolls in West Bengal in the ongoing SIR process bypassing the statutory role of EROs”. Manas Bhunia said: “Nobody can snatch the authority of the EROs, who are the nodal officers for conducting hearings. DEOs cannot interfere. I have witnessed 41 elections in the past, but had never seen the Constitution trampled in such a way.” The ruling party also pointed out that DEOs are the appellate authority. It also raised several objections over alleged “departures from statutory mandates” in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision in the State.

“A certain political party has set a target of the removal of two crore electors from the State’s voter list. With that target in mind, the Election Commission first removed 58 lakh voters [absent, shifted, dead and duplicate] and are questioning 1.36 crore more [electors with logical discrepancies]. We have voiced our protest against this,” Chandrima Bhattacharya said after their meeting with the CEO on Saturday. “We are seeing different sets of rules and practices being applied in Bengal compared to other states. In the name of cross-checking ‘absent, shifted and duplicate’ voters, the EC has omitted around 58 lakh genuine voters by branding them as ‘unmapped,” Bhattacharya told reporters after the meeting. She alleged that the action seems to be part of a bigger game plan to delete two crore voters’ names from the electoral rolls to punish the people of the state for repeatedly rejecting the BJP. Aroop Biswas alleged that the mobile application introduced by the EC does not allow ‘unmapped’ voters to submit the requisite details through annexures of forms 6 and 7, thereby depriving them of their voting rights. “When we pointed it out, Agarwal said that he was forwarding the complaint to Delhi,” Biswas said. “Then how did the authorities arrive at such a huge number of omitted voters running into lakhs?” he asked. He also alleged that the hearing date was altered arbitrarily. “Initially, a particular date was fixed, which was later postponed to December 27. Now only five days have been given to complete the hearing process. Why such undue haste?” he said, alleging that the EC and the CEO’s office were acting at the behest of the BJP. Trinamool Congress also alleged that elderly citizens, even those who are in their 80’s are asked to appear for hearings at venues which are far away. It was deliberately done so that they fail to appear and their names can be removed from the list, alleged the ruling party in Bengal.