Bengal CEO tells us 1 cr people to be called for SIR hearing: BJP leader

Kolkata, Dec 9 (PTI) A BJP delegation held a meeting with West Bengal CEO on Tuesday and was informed that one crore people would be called for a hearing after the release of draft electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state, a party leader said.

The BJP team also urged the Election Commission (EC) to ensure transparency and full-proof screening of every participant in the hearing.

It requested that hearings should be done in the presence of micro observers and under CCTV surveillance.

"We were told by the CEO that about one crore people will be called for a hearing after the December 11 release of the draft rolls as part of the SIR exercise. We were also told that over 56 lakh voters have already been marked as "uncollectible" during the ongoing exercise across the state," BJP central committee member Rahul Sinha said after meeting Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal.

Uncollectible means dead, duplicate or absent or a moving voter in the EC parlance.

Asserting that the number could be higher, Sinha said he asked the poll panel to deploy micro observers and arranged for cameras during hearings so that "not a single ineligible voter is retained in the electoral roll and no eligible one is left out".

Sharply reacting to Sinha, TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said, "This again lends credence to the growing perception that BJP leaders are writing the script for the EC and dictating the number of bona fide Bengali voters to be omitted from the electoral rolls after the SIR." He also said the "hidden agenda" of the BJP will be unmasked and "will backfire".

"They will be rejected by the people of West Bengal in the next polls," he claimed. PTI SUS BDC