Congress calls CEC ‘shameless’ over Bengal voter inclusion drive, TMC says SIR was rushed to help BJP

The Congress on Tuesday accused chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “shamelessness” over a drive to restore eligible voters deleted during the SIR in Bengal, while the Trinamool Congress alleged the exercise was rushed to help the BJP win seats and questioned why the Election Commission had acted only after the deletions.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a screenshot of a press release issued by the office of the state chief electoral officer, Neelam Meena.

District election officers (DEOs) across Bengal have begun campaigns to identify eligible voters whose names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and facilitate their inclusion in the voters' list, the release said.

In his post, Ramesh said, "After having delivered the assembly election to the BJP in a brazenly fraudulent manner, the CEC has had this Press Note issued. There is no limit to Gyanesh Kumar's shamelessness."

The statement by the CEO office said that as per instructions of the Election Commission (EC), 24 DEOs of Bengal have started a proactive campaign to ensure that no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls.

"Special camps are being held throughout the state to ensure this. If any person has any complaint, please feel free to contact the concerned BLO, AERO, ERO or DEO," it said.

"We are committed to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from the voter list," the statement said.

The Trinamool Congress also attacked the Election Commission over the campaign, and said that the SIR was conducted in a rushed and unplanned manner to help the BJP win seats in Bengal. In a post on X, the party questioned why the poll body had launched a drive to include eligible voters only after their names were deleted from the electoral rolls, and demanded accountability over what it described as discrepancies in the process.

Ramesh's remarks come amid a raging row after The Indian Express reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders mostly related to the SIR process.

The EC has said that differing views and observations are a part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.