Mamata urges CEC to halt 'arbitrary, flawed' SIR in Bengal, warns of mass disenfranchisement

Kolkata, Jan 4 (PTI) Sharpening her attack on the Election Commission, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged CEC Gyanesh Kumar to halt the "arbitrary and flawed" SIR in the state, warning that its continuation in the present form could trigger "mass disenfranchisement" and "strike at the foundations of democracy".

In a strongly worded letter dated December 3, Banerjee accused the commission of presiding over what she described as an "unplanned, ill-prepared and ad hoc" process marked by "serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses".

She asserted that the situation on the ground had worsened despite her two earlier communications to the chief election commissioner (CEC).

"I am once again constrained to write to you in order to place on record my grave concern," Banerjee wrote, recalling that she had flagged similar issues in letters dated November 20 and December 2.

"Regrettably, instead of any corrective course being adopted, the situation on the ground has only deteriorated further." The chief minister said the "undue haste" with which the SIR was being carried out, "without adequate groundwork or preparation", had rendered the process "fundamentally flawed".

Calling the issues "illustrative and by no means exhaustive", the chief minister concluded that the SIR, as presently conducted, is "compromised" and strikes at the basics of democracy.

"Taken together, these deficiencies demonstrate that the SIR process, as presently conducted, stands deeply compromised and strikes at the basic structural framework of our democracy," the chief minister wrote, warning that if corrective steps were not taken immediately, the "exercise must be halted" to prevent "irreparable damage" and "large-scale disenfranchisement".

She alleged that officials entrusted with the task had received no proper or uniform training, while the IT systems in use were "defective, unstable, and unreliable".

"The instructions issued from time to time are inconsistent and often contradictory," she wrote, alleging that the lack of clarity and planning at both the national and state levels had "reduced this vital democratic exercise to a farce" and "severely eroded public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process".

Banerjee also questioned the commission's preparedness, saying that even at the national level, the ECI appeared uncertain about the "precise objectives, modalities, and end goals" of the SIR.

"Although the exercise is described as time-bound, there are no clearly defined, transparent, or uniformly applicable timelines," she said, pointing out that different states were following different criteria, with timelines being altered arbitrarily.

In one of her sharpest criticisms, the chief minister flagged what she called the "shockingly informal" manner in which critical instructions were being issued.

"Important directions are being issued almost on a daily basis, frequently through informal channels such as WhatsApp messages and text messages," she wrote, noting that no proper written notifications, circulars or statutory orders were being issued for an exercise of such constitutional significance.

Such informality, Banerjee warned, left "no scope for accuracy, transparency, or accountability" and carried the risk of "serious discrepancies, including the potential disenfranchisement of genuine electors".

Raising serious allegations, the chief minister claimed that there were instances of "backend deletion of electors through the misuse of IT systems" without following due process and without the knowledge or approval of electoral registration officers, the statutory authorities under the Representation of the People Act.

"This raises serious questions as to who has authorised such actions and under what legal authority. The ECI must be held fully accountable for any illegal, arbitrary, or biased actions carried out under its supervision or direction," she said. PTI PNT BDC