Mamata writes to CEC, urges him to halt 'chaotic, coercive' SIR of voter rolls
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Kolkata (PTI): Upping the ante on SIR, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a strongly worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday, asking him to immediately halt the exercise that she claimed was "chaotic, coercive and dangerous".
Banerjee mentioned that she has "time and again" raised concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state and is now "compelled to write" to the chief election commissioner because the situation has reached a "deeply alarming stage".
She alleged that the SIR in Bengal is being carried out in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner that has “crippled the process from day one”.
The chief minister accused the Election Commission of thrusting the SIR upon officials and citizens "without basic preparedness, adequate planning or clear communication", claiming that critical gaps in training, confusion over mandatory documents and the "near-impossibility" of BLOs meeting voters during working hours had rendered the entire exercise “structurally unsound”.
She urged the CEC to “intervene decisively” to halt the ongoing exercise, stop "coercive" measures, provide proper training and support, and “thoroughly reassess” the present methodology and timelines.
“If this path is not corrected without delay, the consequences for the system, the officials and the citizens will be irreversible,” she wrote, calling this a moment that demands “responsibility, humanity and decisive corrective action”.
The three-page letter, among her strongest yet, painted a grim portrait of booth-level officers stretched “far beyond human limits”.
“They are expected to manage their principal duties, many being teachers and frontline workers, while simultaneously conducting door-to-door surveys and handling complex e-submissions,” she wrote, adding that most were struggling with online forms due to lack of training, server failures and repeated data mismatches.
The consequence, she warned, is a "looming breakdown".
“At this pace, it is almost certain that by December 4, voter data across multiple constituencies cannot be uploaded with required accuracy," Banerjee said.
Under extreme pressure and “fear of punitive action”, many BLOs were being pushed into filing incorrect or incomplete entries, risking disenfranchisement of genuine voters and “eroding the integrity of the electoral roll”.
Banerjee reserved some of her sharpest criticism for what she described as the Election Commission’s “indefensible” response, not support, but “intimidation”.
She alleged that the Office of the CEO, West Bengal, was issuing show-cause notices “without justification”, threatening already strained BLOs with disciplinary action instead of acknowledging “the reality on the ground”.
Compounding the strain, Banerjee wrote, was the timing of the SIR. Bengal is at the peak of paddy harvest and in the middle of Rabi sowing, a strictly time-bound window, especially for potato cultivation, she said.
"Millions of farmers and labourers are engaged in essential agricultural work and cannot be expected to abandon the fields to participate in SIR enumeration,” she said.
But it was the human cost that Banerjee described as “now unbearable”.
She cited the suicide of an anganwadi worker serving as a BLO in Jalpaiguri district's Mal area, reportedly under “crushing SIR-related pressure”, adding that “several others have lost their lives since this process began”.
A voter roll revision that earlier took three years, she said, had been “forcibly compressed into three months”, creating “inhuman working conditions” and a climate of “fear and uncertainty”.
The chief minister warned that continuing with the “unplanned, coercive drive” would not only endanger more lives but also “jeopardise the legitimacy of the electoral revision itself”.
The Election Commission is yet to respond to the chief minister’s latest salvo, even as the political temperature around the SIR, once a routine administrative exercise, continues to climb amid charges of overreach, coercion and chaos.
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RCB beat MI by 18 runs after batters fire
Mumbai (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as the defending champions beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Salt (78 off 36 balls) and Kohli (50 off 38 balls) stitched together a 120-run stand for the opening wicket before Patidar scored a rapid 53 off just 20 balls as RCB posted 240 for 4.
In response, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 222 for 5, with RCB spinner Suyash Sharma (2/47) putting the skids on the home side with a double strike in the eighth over, from which they could not recover.
Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls.
While opener Rohit Sharma appeared to be struggling with a hamstring issue and had to retire hurt on 19, his partner Ryan Rickelton made 37, while Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Hardik Pandya (40) were the other contributors for MI.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 35 not out).
Mumbai Indians: 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Ryan Rickelton 37, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2/47).
