Allegations of harassment during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the voter list led to protests at West Bengal’s Burdwan station on Saturday. Locals allege they are being repeatedly summoned and harassed by the Election Commission. They staged a demonstration and blocked the railway tracks.

Some protesters lay down on the tracks holding the national flag. This disrupted train services, with several local trains being delayed for over half an hour. Train services have now returned to normal, according to the Eastern Railways.

On Saturday, after 11:30 AM, local residents entered the station carrying the national flag. They protested inside the station, leading to chaos. Some protesters lay down on the tracks, causing several trains to be halted.

One protester said, “We are local residents. Why are we being harassed in the name of nabbing Bangladeshis? We are being forced to do the same thing repeatedly. We will not tolerate this.”

Passengers faced extreme hardship due to the protest. One passenger, while supporting the allegations of harassment during the SIR process, did not condone the railway blockade. A large police force later arrived and brought the situation under control.

It is worth noting that protests have taken place in various parts of the state against alleged harassment of voters during the SIR process and at the hearing centres. Protests have occurred in several places, including Farakka and Chakulia. In many cases, these protests have turned violent. Besides arson, there have also been incidents of vandalism at BDO offices.

3.5 lakh voters skip Election Commission’s SIR hearing in West Bengal

In a shocking development, almost 3.5 lakh out of the 31.68 lakh voters in West Bengal have failed to appear for the SIR hearings on the dates designated by the Election Commission which were mentioned in the notices served on them. These are the people whose names have been missing in the 2002 electoral rolls, the last time when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) happened in West Bengal.

The initial deadline for the hearings for unmapped voters ended on Thursday. However, the Election Commission has announced an extension till February 7 but there is speculation that bogus voters still exist on the post-SIR draft rolls.

Poll panel officials said those who had not appeared for hearings would have a chance to do so if they applied to the BLOs for slots by February 7. But for this, they will have to cite a valid reason why they had missed the previous date.

Before the SIR began, the chief electoral officer’s office of West Bengal had conducted a sample survey of the electoral rolls in four Assembly segments — Baruipur East, Rajarhat-Gopalpur, Moyna and Nandakumar. The survey showed that more than 100 fictitious voters had been included in each of the Assembly segments between April and July last year by four officials assigned to add people to the electoral rolls after verification.

Based on these findings, the commission had asked the Bengal chief secretary to suspend and lodge FIRs against these four officials — the two election registration officers and two assistant EROs for Baruipur East and Moyna.

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