Bengal SIR challenges: Hiccups and glitches confront EC during first 72 hours of enumeration phase

Kolkata, Nov 6 (PTI) Saddam Hossain, a resident of Powaturkuthi, a former Bangladeshi enclave in Cooch Behar district, refused to accept his enumeration forms for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls when the Block Level Officer came knocking on his door.

So did a vast majority of the 15,000-odd inhabitants of the former enclaves in the district who were awarded citizenship after the historic exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh took place on the midnight of July 31, 2015, which also involved transferring 111 Indian enclaves to the neighbouring nation.

The reason: anxiety of disenfranchisement grips these new citizens as none were enlisted as voters in the 2002 electoral rolls - as is required for automatic qualification to the SIR 2026 rolls - and a significant number of them do not possess the 11 documents enlisted by the ECI to guarantee their names in the final list the poll body will publish post the scrutiny process.

Amid the ongoing visit of a special ECI delegation to the state to review the implementation of the SIR exercise, this is not the only hiccup confronting the commission, as concerns get raised from various other quarters.

"There is no clarity from the ECI yet on our fate since neither us nor our parents were on the 2002 voters list and will not be able to fill up the second set of columns on the enumeration forms," Hossain told PTI, while waiting outside the office of the District Magistrate-cum-District Electoral Odfficer (DEO) in Cooch Behar town on Thursday to meet him and seek answers.

"Most of us do not possess the 11 indicative documents listed out by the commission to prove our citizenship and eligibility to vote, once hearing notices get served after the draft rolls are published on December 9. What happens if our names get deleted from the electoral rolls of SIR 2026? Will we lose our citizenship again?" he added in justification of the enumeration form refusal.

Merely a decade has passed since the residents of the erstwhile enclaves were relieved from the ignominy of being considered stateless entities and awarded Indian citizenship after authorities granted them identity documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhar cards.

Many were granted lease rights to reside on the 7,110-acre land transferred to the Indian side during the exchange, but residents allege that the 'Khatiyans' (record of rights) were flawed.

Responding to questions on the emerging confusion, Manoj Agarwal, West Bengal CEO, had told PTI earlier that these new citizens would not face any difficulty in getting their names enrolled during the SIR exercise that began on November 4.

"Headcounts of former enclave residents had taken place with names and other details and that list is available with the Union home ministry, the state government and the office of the DEO. They will face no problem at all," Agarwal had said.

That, however, wasn't enough to allay the apprehensions of the anxiety-stricken residents who plan to take to the streets in protest, if the ECI fails to officially address the issue.

"Despite what the CEO said, BLOs have landed up at our houses with enumeration forms and have no answers to the questions we raised," said Jaynal Abedin, a resident of Madhya Mashaldanga, another former enclave.

"The EC should issue a notice or hold an official press conference clarifying how exactly they would address our special case," he added.

Citizens living outside the country, too, seem to be in the lurch over their accessibility problems to ECI and West Bengal CEO's websites.

Said Nirupam Deb, an IT professional from Rajarhat in the eastern fringes of Kolkata, who's currently based out of Melbourne, "I am unable to access any of the government websites from here, possibly on account of security reasons. That has prevented me from accessing or downloading the enumeration forms. I do not have blood relatives in Kolkata, from where I am a voter, and so there's no one to fill up the forms on behalf of me or my wife." Deb said he raised his concerns before the BLO concerned who said she had no solution at hand to offer for this "unique problem".

"The BLO has told me that she will consult her seniors on this and get back," he added.

If that isn't all, despite promises made by top ECI officials of the state to make the enumeration forms available online from Thursday morning, no such options were available on the web portal of CEO, West Bengal, till the evening.

The facility, aimed at benefiting those who remain absent at home when BLOs arrive to distribute the forms, remains a non-starter on account of admitted "technical backend glitches" even three days after the BLOs hit the ground for house-to-house enumeration.

Even the BLOs themselves voice discontent at the manner in which the current phase of SIR has been implemented so far, some even taking to social media to voice their angst.

"So far, I have received only one-fourth of the total number of enumeration forms I am supposed to distribute among voters in my booth. As a result, when I am visiting a family, I am unable to hand them over all the EFs at one go, necessitating multiple visits to one household for a job that could have been done at one go," a BLO said, posting a reel on Facebook.

"I will urge the commission to look into this and hand us all the forms together. This will save both time and energy," she said. PTI SMY NN