Kolkata, Oct 26 (PTI) The Congress and civil rights activists in West Bengal urged the State Election Commission on Monday to ensure that eligible voters who had been excluded from the electoral rolls during the SIR get an opportunity to re-enrol themselves before the civic polls.
In a memorandum submitted to State Election Commissioner Krishna Gupta, the signatories argued that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had resulted in the deletion of a large number of eligible voters in the state ahead of the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
They urged the chief electoral officer to ensure that eligible voters excluded during the SIR process by the ECI get an opportunity to re-enrol before the municipal elections are conducted.
The memorandum also called for the inclusion of all appellants whose cases are pending before the SIR Appellate Tribunals in the electoral rolls for the civic polls.
Citing data submitted by the Election Commission of India to the Supreme Court in an affidavit dated September 16, the signatories said around 1.2 lakh appeals were pending in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation jurisdiction and approximately 39,000 in the Howrah Municipal Corporation area.
They further claimed that data on cases disposed of by the appellate tribunals showed that all cases in Kolkata district and 99 per cent of those in Howrah had been decided in favour of inclusion.
Excluding the approximately 1.6 lakh appellants in the two municipal corporation areas from the upcoming civic polls would amount to disenfranchising them for a second time after the Assembly elections, the memorandum said.
The signatories of the memorandum cited Article 243ZA of the Constitution and Section 5 of the West Bengal State Election Commission Act, 1994, to argue that the state poll panel has the statutory authority to oversee the preparation of electoral rolls for municipal elections.
They urged the commission to exercise its powers to include all eligible tribunal appellants until the completion of the special re-enrolment drive and the SSR, or any extended date announced by the Election Commission of India.
The memorandum was signed by West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Subhankar Sarkar, former Rajya Sabha MP and former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, S Ali Mallick of the Nagarik Samannoy Manch and others. PTI SUS NSD
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