West Bengal: Uproar over SIR in Murshidabad, 50 BLOs resigned together, BDO office heavily vandalized

Murshidabad, 14 January. The situation is worsening regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of voter list in Farakka block of Murshidabad district in West Bengal. In this sequence, all the booth level officers of Farakka Block have collectively resigned, accusing the common people of being harassed in the name of SIR. This resignation was submitted to the Farakka Block Election Officer i.e. ERO on Wednesday morning.

Allegation of sending changing orders repeatedly by the Election Commission

According to the information received, about 50 BLOs resigned from their posts together. They allege that the Election Commission is repeatedly sending changing orders through WhatsApp without any clear and concrete guidelines. Earlier it was said that the process would be completed only by filling the form, but later in the name of hearing, common people started calling repeatedly.

TMC MLA from Farakka Monirul Islam led the BLO

During the hearing conducted under this SIR process, the incident of vandalism in Farakka BDO office also came to light. It is being told that a delegation of more than 30 BLOs raised their objections regarding the SIR process. This delegation had arrived under the leadership of Trinamool Congress MLA from Farakka, Monirul Islam. During this time the atmosphere deteriorated and vandalism took place.

Allegations regarding sabotage were made that the situation worsened after MLA Monirul Islam’s statement regarding bias on religious grounds in the SIR process. In a video, the MLA was heard saying that if someone tells his name as Ram then no documents are asked from him, but if someone tells his name as Rahim then he is being harassed.

Danger of real voters’ names being removed from the voter list

BLO claims that due to the current process, there is a danger of names of many genuine voters being removed from the voter list. People who have six children are also being asked questions, although there is no rule in the Constitution regarding the number of children. The BLO said that they all are school teachers by profession and it is not possible for them to do this additional and cumbersome work along with the responsibility of the school.

According to BLO, he had to publicly resign due to injustice towards common people and inability to fulfill his professional responsibilities. This entire incident has created a stir in the political and administrative circles of Farakka block.