Trinamool Congress legislator Asit Majumdar disrupted and forcefully closed down a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls hearing for a second consecutive day at a center in Polba in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. Majumdar demanded that booth-level agents (BLA)-2s be allowed to attend the session, halting the hearing session in the district. He addressed voters at the session, claiming the process was meant to harass them and insisted that it be stopped until BLA-2s were permitted.
On Monday, Majumdar had also forcibly halted a hearing session at a center in Polba. Despite the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) order that BLA-2s should not be present at the hearing session, disruptions continued. The ECI had warned electoral registration officers (EROs) and district officials of liability if any political party’s BLA was found at the session.
Fashion designer-turned-politician and Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Agnimitra Paul criticized the disruptions, noting that West Bengal was the only state facing tensions during the SIR process. Paul suggested that the ruling party was deliberately creating tension as they feared the SIR would expose their ulterior motives.
