Kolkata, Feb 16 (PTI) A clarification issued by the Election Commission on Monday, disqualifying the admissibility of funds sanction letters for rural housing schemes of the Centre and state government as an SIR document, triggered a fresh political row with the TMC alleging that the move was yet another ploy by the poll body to maximise disenfranchisement of valid voters.
The Trinamool Congress further alleged that the poll panel notice, arriving a day after the hearing process of voters over logical discrepancies in enumeration forms and unmapped electors ended, opened up additional possibilities of unfair deletions from the final rolls scheduled to be published on February 28.
Clarifying a query raised by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, an EC letter dated February 16, refused to accept financial assistance sanction letters issued under government housing schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna – Gramin (PMAY-G), the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) and Banglar Bari (Gramin) as valid documentation for SIR hearings.
“The Commission in its SIR instruction dated 27.10.25 has prescribed ‘Any Land/House allotment certificate by Government’ as one of the indicative documents. The financial assistance sanction letters issued under schemes such as PMAY-G, IAY and Banglar Bari (Gramin) etc, are not the documents as specified either in the order of the Honourable Supreme Court or in the SIR instructions referred to above,” the EC clarification, referring to a February 9 apex court order, said.
The EC quoted a portion of the order in its clarification letter to drive home its point.
“The affected persons to whom notices have been served shall be entitled to rely on all or any of the documents referred to by the ECI in the SIR notice, and all such documents, including those referred to in our order dated 19.01.2026 shall be considered by EROs when passing orders on the objections received in response to the notices served,” the SC order read.
Responding sharply to the development, Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya alleged this was yet another move by the commission to “specifically target Bengal and its voters”.
“This clarification is self-contradictory. What does this mean? The EC agrees to land allotment certificate as one of the valid documents. Can government housing funds be sanctioned to those who are not registered land owners? If financial assistance letters have been awarded, it automatically means that the beneficiary is a land owner,” Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya asked why the West Bengal CEO sought this clarification in the first place “despite knowing” funds sanction letters for rural housing can only be awarded to land owners, and claimed it was designed to “aggravate difficulties” for voters in the state.
She maintained that some 32 lakh beneficiaries have received funds under the state-sponsored Banglar Bari rural housing scheme in Bengal after the central grants for the same were stopped.
“And why did this clarification arrive a day after the hearings ended?” Bhattacharya asked, “People have already submitted sanction letters as document without knowing whether this will be accepted or not. They don’t have a chance now to defend their document and risk deletion from final rolls.” Referring to the same Supreme Court order highlighted by the EC, the TMC maintained that the poll panel violated the spirit of that direction and, instead, relied on “technical vagueness” to apply electoral rules “selectively in Bengal”.
“Need we remind the EC that the Supreme Court observed that, as a constitutional body, it must function in a manner that upholds the trust of the electorate and ensures that every eligible voter is able to exercise their franchise, not create an atmosphere of fear and exclusion? The Commission is constitutionally mandated to protect the people’s vote, not advance the political interests of any party. They are the Election Commission. Not an Election Omission,” the party posted on its X handle. PTI SMY NN
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