Kolkata, Dec 1 (PTI) Alleging irregularities during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the BJP on Monday demanded an audit of all 1.25 crore entries made between November 26 and 28 in the enumeration process.
The saffron party claimed that lakhs of names of Bangladeshi nationals and dead voters have been included among those entries.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and other BJP MLAs met the chief electoral officer (CEO) at his office, even as representatives of the BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee demonstrated outside the premises, seeking more time for completing the SIR exercise.
Adhikari alleged that the TMC’s political consultancy agency I-PAC was “interfering in the data entry process” during the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
“We want an investigation by an independent agency,” he said, demanding that the CBI or the judiciary be involved by the commission in the matter.
Alleging that the Kolkata Police was biased, he claimed that the CEO’s office itself is not safe.
“We have a specific demand that all entries (for the enumeration process) of about 1.25 crore made from November 26 to 28 be examined by the special observers and ECI’s technical team and an audit be made,” Adhikari told West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
The BJP leaders handed over a representation to the CEO, demanding steps to complete the SIR exercise in the state by ensuring that the process is completed in a clean manner and with proper security for all officials, including the booth-level officers (BLOs).
Alleging that a section of electoral registration officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs were working in a partisan manner, Adhikari claimed that they were favouring the ruling TMC. The BJP leader also demanded removal of two DEOs from their posts.
“They (CEO) sought to assure us that physical verification, zone observers and technology will be used to filter these as much as possible,” the BJP leader said.
Adhikari said that the BJP has also demanded that the Election Commission live telecast hearing of applicants who have any mismatch in documents as part of the SIR exercise to ensure transparency.
“Functionaries of the opposition political party are being prevented from entering your office by some people agitating outside, and the police are not acting against such activities,” he told the CEO.
Pointing to a directive by the Election Commission for shifting the CEO’s office to a more secure place from its current location in central Kolkata after some BLOs and their supporters entered the precincts and held protests last week, the BJP demanded that the shifting be done immediately.
“We also demand that if necessary, the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) be engaged to provide security to the CEO’s office, observers and BLOs,” Adhikari said.
The leader of opposition also alleged that many officers who are not of the proper rank have been given the job of EROs and demanded that they be replaced immediately.
Stating that the BJP had filed specific complaints against about 5,000 BLOs, he alleged that the names of Bangladesh citizens were being illegally entered in the SIR process.
Adhikari said that the BJP delegation gave data of 17,111 booths to the CEO and the special observer and complaints relating to those.
He claimed that these booths are spread over nearly 220 constituencies out of all the 294 assembly segments in West Bengal.
“Of the 1.25 crore entries, the names of around 30 to 40 lakh people, who ought to have been called for hearing over their documents, were entered by intimidating the concerned BLOs,” he said.
Asked whether he expects a clean electoral roll after the SIR exercise, the LOP said “100 per cent will not happen, but we will not go into the numerical specifics now.” Stating that everything will be clear after the final electoral rolls are published by the EC, he said, “We want to say that loot took place from November 26 to 28 till the special observers were appointed.” He claimed that after observers were appointed, the number of entries have decreased and figures of mismatch of documents have increased, maintaining that the ECI will come out with the exact figures in this regard.
“We want all the hearings to be monitored from the control room of the CEO office using live CCTV footage,” he said.
Asserting that the CEO has assured them that the EC will ensure transparency in the process, the BJP leader said, “We told him that we do not want favour; we only want fairness to be ensured in the exercise.” Adhikari said that the CEO has told the BJP delegation that they will send to the CEC or the ECI full body any written suggestion by the party on appointing micro-observers in all the zones and that they should be not officers of the West Bengal government to ensure non-partisan conduct.
“We have no objection that state government officers will hold the hearings, but neutral micro-observers should be appointed to oversee these,” he said. PTI AMR BDC NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.