Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee alleges CEC Gyanesh Kumar of procedural lapses during SIR of electoral rolls

CM Mamata Banerjee alleged that SIR was resulting in undue harassment of citizens, wrongful deletion of eligible voters and their consequent disenfranchisement.

In a letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, she stated, "In continuation of my earlier letters, I again wish to draw your attention regarding the following two serious procedural lapses being observed during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which are resulting in undue harassment of citizens, wrongful deletion of eligible electors and their consequent disenfranchisement."

"It has been noticed that during hearings conducted as part of the SIR, electors are submitting requisite documents in support of their eligibility. However, in several cases, no proper acknowledgement or receipt is issued for the submitted documents. Subsequently, at the stage of verification or hearing, these documents are reported as "not found" or "not available on record," and on that basis, names of electors are being deleted from the electoral rolls," she further said.

Mamata Banerjee further said the procedure is fundamentally flawed and untenable. The non-issuance of a documentary acknowledgement deprives electors of proof of submission and leaves them reliant on internal record-keeping.

"The process is mechanical and driven by technicalities rather than a reasoned application of mind. Such administrative lapses are being unfairly forced upon citizens, causing severe harassment of common citizens and also resulting in the denial of their constitutional rights. This defeats the very objective of the Special Intensive Revision, which is intended to strengthen and purify the electoral rolls, not to exclude genuine and eligible voters," she said.

The Chief Minister said that, in the absence of a digitised database of the last SIR, the manual voter lists of 2002, including those published in vernacular scripts, were scanned and translated into English using AI tools.

During this transliteration, serious errors occurred in the elector particulars, including name, age, sex, relationship, and the guardian's name. These errors have resulted in large-scale data mismatches, leading to many genuine voters being categorised as "logical discrepancies."

"Over the last 23 years, a large number of electors have submitted Form-8 along with valid government-issued documents, and after due quasi-judicial hearings by EROS/AEROS, their particulars were duly corrected and incorporated in the current Electoral Roll-2025. The Commission is now disregarding its own statutory processes followed consistently over two decades and is compelling electors to once again establish their identity and eligibility," she said.

"Such an approach-disowning its own actions and mechanisms spanning more than two decades-is arbitrary, illogical and contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India. Why should the process revert to 2002? Does this imply that all revisions carried out over the intervening years were illegal?" she asked.

She said that all these voters who are being issued hearing notices are already on the 2002 electoral roll, either directly or through their progeny, so there is no need to issue hearing notices in such cases.

"This is causing avoidable confusion and hardship to genuine electors who have established their mapping from the 2002 electoral roll and submitted all supporting documents. Field teams are also facing resentment while serving such notices, which are perceived as unnecessary harassment without any fault on the part of electors," she added.

The Election Commission of India has appointed four additional Special Roll Observers (SROs) for West Bengal to ensure the smooth completion of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. (ANI)