Kolkata, Dec 23 After publication of the draft voters' list following the first phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Trinamool Congress, on Tuesday, alleged that voters are being harassed by being summoned for minor issues during the hearing process of the draft electoral roll.
The Trinamool Congress has claimed after a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manoj Kumar Agarwal, that there is no reason to summon these voters.
The ruling party in West Bengal also demanded that the hearing process of the SIR be conducted at nearby government offices.
The Trinamool Congress also warned that if the Election Commission of India (ECI) forcibly proceeds with the deletion of more than one crore names, they will launch a protest.
On Tuesday, a five-member Trinamool Congress delegation met with CEO Agarwal.
The delegation included three state Ministers -- Chandrima Bhattacharya, Shashi Panja and Pulak Roy, along with Trinamool Congress MPs Partha Bhowmick and Bapi Halder.
After the meeting concluded, the Trinamool Congress held a press conference and said that they have demanded an end to summoning voters for hearings on minor issues during the SIR exercise.
State Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, "We have conveyed to the Election Commission that there is no reason to summon voters for logical problems such as spelling mistakes in names or where the name is not same in English and Bengali."
The Trinamool Congress delegation has demanded that the Aadhaar card be recognised as a valid document, specifically as the 12th document.
The ruling party in West Bengal said that the Election Commission is mentioning only eleven documents everywhere and not including the Aadhaar card, which is causing confusion among the people.
Minister Bhattacharya said, "During the SIR process held in Bihar, the Supreme Court had instructed that the Aadhaar card should be accepted. But the Election Commission is not mentioning this anywhere. They are saying that the Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship, but we are saying that none of the documents the Election Commission is mentioning are proof of citizenship. Moreover, the Supreme Court has also said that the Election Commission cannot grant citizenship in any way."
Along with these demands, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has also demanded that the hearing process during the SIR be conducted at local government offices.
The ruling party said that it will be difficult for many people to travel to distant block offices or District Magistrate offices and it will also incur expenses.
"Conduct the hearings at the Gram Panchayat or municipal offices and conduct this process ward by ward. Issue guidelines regarding this matter. Otherwise, people are getting confused," Minister Bhattacharya added.
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