The Special Intensive Revision of voter lists is emerging as the biggest pivot in the assembly election in West Bengal with political parties as well as the electorate charged up about it. While the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP are accusing each other of trying to hijack the process, the people are plain upset. Heated discussions about repeated appearances at Appellate Tribunals can be heard at every street corner and shops, households are missing domestic helps who have made a beeline for their villages to ensure that they are not removed from lists. An all-pervading fear rules about being labelled Bangladeshis.
Over the last 48 hours, three incidents centering the SIR process has erupted in three parts of the state. One of these has even had ripples in the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court On Malda Incident
Last evening, seven judicial officers, three of them women, were held hostage for over nine hours in Bengal's Malda by a group of voters whose names were deleted from the list during the rolls revision.
Read: "Was Monitoring Till 2 AM": Chief Justice Raps Bengal Over Hostage Incident
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said he was awake till late in the night to track the events as they unfolded. Asking the Election Commission to seek a probe by Central agencies, he said such incidents challenge the authority of the Supreme Court and appears to be "calculated and motivated". The CJI also said the top court will monitor the probe.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she did not know about the matter. She also said she no longer feels in control of the state machinery after the Election Commission enforced top-level changes in the administration.
Read: "No One Told Me": Mamata Banerjee On Hostage Incident After Top Court's Rap
"The administration is not in my hand. The Election Commission is controlling law-and-order (in the state) ... they listen to Home Minister Amit Shah. Everyone has been changed... my powers have been transferred to the EC. It is 'super President's rule'," she said.
Trouble In Kolkata
The second incident took place near the Election Commission office in Kolkata's Salt Lake on late on the night of April 1. Reports said around 1:30 am, agitated BJP workers and supporters allegedly attacked several Booth Level Officers, alleging they are in collusion with the ruling Trinamool Congress. The Trinamool alleged that the BJP men were caught with fake Form 6 applications.
"BJP agents have been caught red-handed flooding the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, with thousands of fraudulent Form 6 applications to smuggle non-residents and outsiders into Bengal's electoral rolls. This is an attempt at voter hijacking -- the same dirty game BJP successfully played in Maharashtra and Delhi," she said.
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"I have written to the Chief Election Commissioner, raising serious alarm over the grave conspiracy being orchestrated against the democratic rights of the people of Bengal," she added.
The matter has now become a major flashpoint. The BJP has alleged that the Trinamool is trying to bring voters back into the electoral rolls, while the ruling party claims the BJP is trying to control the distribution and submission of these forms.
Form 6 is used when a voter seeks re-entry into the electoral rolls after their name has been deleted. The ongoing SIR exercise has already resulted in the deletion of nearly 80 lakh voters from the rolls. Currently, the review and finalisation of the lists are in progress.
District Magistrates act as the electoral officers responsible for approving and signing Form-6 applications. So, with the Election Commission replacing District Magistrates in many districts, suspicion is high in the Trinamool camp.
Poll Body's Move A Twist
The issue got complicated further with Chief Electoral Officer of Bengal, Manoj Aggarwal, removing his deputy without any explanation. The Trinamool claimed the BJP is acting out of political anxiety.
The matter reached the High Court and then the Supreme Court, which formed 19 Appellate Tribunals to deal with the large number of appeals. The tribunals have been headed by former Chief Justices identified by the Calcutta High Court.
Referring to a status report submitted by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, the Supreme Court noted that judicial officers had achieved an unprecedented pace in disposing of objections.
According to the report, 47.40 lakh objections out of a total of 65 lakh had been cleared as of March 31.
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The top court said the tribunals must be given full access to the "recorded reasons" for every voter exclusion, ensuring that the appeals process remains fair and transparent. The comment was interpreted by many as the court's way of agreeing with the Trinamool Congress claims about the Election Commission harassing the voters.
The top court has now noted that 36 of the 65 lakh objections have been decided and the total number of disposals has crossed 47.40 lakh. But it is still not clear how many voters have ultimately been deleted from the rolls and who they are. Questions are being raised about whether the deleted voters are supporters of the BJP or the Trinamool.
Campaign Centres SIR
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee have started campaigning aggressively on the issue -- a prominent departure from the earlier elections where slogans like "Jai Shri Ram" and funds for the state were among the key themes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the state in April, and the BJP leadership plans to hold several election rallies then, where they mean to challenge the Trinamool narrative.
