CPI-M's Hannan Mollah questions SIR process in Bengal, alleges voter deletions

Kolkata, March 29 (IANS) CPI-M leader Hannan Mollah has criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal, alleging that names of voters opposed to the BJP are being struck off the electoral rolls.

Speaking to IANS on Saturday, the veteran Left leader claimed that the ongoing revision exercise is unprecedented in its nature and scale.

"The Election Commission is identifying people who are opposed to the BJP and removing their names from the voters' list. Information has been supplied to the ECI, and based on that, lists under adjudication are being prepared. Lakhs of names cannot be deleted like this. There may be five to ten thousand cases, but there cannot be lakhs or even a crore voters who are not genuine," Mollah said.

He further said that such a process has not been followed in the past.

“Revisions of electoral rolls take place every year, and sometimes special revisions are carried out. But what is happening this time is completely different. It has never happened before. People are protesting and will continue to do so. Elections cannot be held without a final voters’ list. Every genuine voter must be included before the polls are conducted,” he added.

Mollah also criticised the functioning of the Election Commission, alleging that it is no longer acting independently.

“In the history of India, the Election Commission was never an agent of the government. It functioned as an independent body and revised electoral rolls from time to time. Now, things are different. Decisions are not being taken in the spirit of the Constitution,” he said.

The CPI(M) leader also raised concerns over the scale of deletions and the process being followed, stating that the credibility of the electoral rolls must be ensured before elections are conducted.

Meanwhile, Mollah also targeted the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

"In the history of India, Election Commission was never the agent of the Union government. It was an independent agency and revised the electoral rolls from time to time. This man (CEC Gyanesh Kumar) was the Home Ministry employee under the Union Home Minister Amit Shah's leadership. He has been brought here (in the ECI). Everything was clear why he was brought to the post of CEC. It was evident that he would carry out a mess. And he is doing it. He is functioning not accotrding to the Constitution," the CPI-M leader said.

--IANS

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