Trinamool Congress MLA Asit Majumdar caused a disruption during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearing in Hooghly district, West Bengal. He insisted on the presence of booth-level agents (BLAs) from his party during the proceedings. The hearing was paused for nearly two hours before Majumdar withdrew his protest due to humanitarian reasons, causing commotion in the Chinsurah area.
The SIR hearing process, which began last Saturday in West Bengal, has faced criticism for alleged procedural flaws. Critics claim that notices are being issued indiscriminately, even to voters listed in the 2002 electoral rolls. Concerns have been raised about summoning elderly and ailing individuals to distant centers, leading to prolonged waiting times. The Trinamool Congress has expressed opposition to this process.
Majumdar, the TMC MLA from Chuchura, led a sit-in protest at the Chinsurah-Mogra block office, demanding the presence of party BLAs during the hearings. He insisted on allowing agents entry into the center or receiving a written explanation from the Election Commission. This led to confrontations with poll officials and a temporary standoff.
Amid the chaos, the center’s gates were closed, resulting in long queues of voters outside, including many elderly individuals. The uncertainty regarding the resumption of hearings caused distress among those waiting. Majumdar criticized the mismanagement, highlighting the indiscriminate summoning of various groups of people for the hearings.
Majumdar emphasized that the hearing process should involve BLAs and threatened to escalate the protest to other offices if their demands were not met. He communicated with officials over the phone and later decided to end the protest for humanitarian reasons. However, he warned that the hearings would be suspended again if BLAs were not allowed inside from the following day.
