The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) is set to stage a protest in Kolkata on Friday against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process before the state’s Assembly elections. The party is demanding the release of an accurate voter list, citing significant irregularities during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.
WBPCC President Subhankar Sarkar has declared a 24-hour sit-in outside the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in Kolkata starting at 2 p.m. on Friday to emphasize their request. Sarkar expressed concerns that the SIR, initiated on November 4 last year, has caused distress to legitimate voters and raised apprehensions of widespread exclusions.
Sarkar emphasized the party’s stance that no eligible voter’s name should be removed and no false names should be added to the voter list. He criticized the SIR process, alleging that it has inconvenienced genuine voters and created fears of mass deletions. State Congress President highlighted that over one crore voters have been questioned based on ‘logical discrepancies’, challenging the legal validity of such actions.
The Congress plans to escalate its protests in the upcoming days with various demands, including the immediate publication of the final voter list under SIR by February 28. They also demand that no genuine voter should be excluded due to ‘logical discrepancies’ and that electoral registration officers’ legal authority should not be restricted. Additionally, the party seeks proper resolution of all applications in Forms 6, 7, and 8 through fair hearings, along with providing a new schedule and clear instructions to eligible voters inadvertently left out, to be completed before the nomination process commences.
