Tea garden residents who work or stay outside the state will not face any difficulty during the SIR of electoral rolls, said Manoj Agarwal, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bengal, after a two-hour meeting at Dooars Kanya, the collectorate of Alipurduar, on Thursday.
Agarwal and five others, including Gyanesh Bharti, the senior deputy election commissioner, are on a visit to north Bengal to oversee the ongoing SIR. They held meetings with the administrations of Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.
There are 64 tea gardens in Alipurduar, and around 40 per cent of the garden population lives outside the state. Around 25 per cent are expected to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. Families had expressed concern that their outstation relatives would face problems during the SIR.
Agarwal clarified: “No genuine voter’s name will be left out of the electoral list. Tea garden residents staying outside the state will not face any problems. We have developed a QR code system, which allows anyone to share family details directly with the Election Commission.”
He said that the enumeration forms are sufficient, and booth-level officers (BLOs) will receive them timely. Nakul Sonar, chairman of the Tea Cha Bagan Workers’ Union, said: “We welcome the initiative, but many workers may find the QR code difficult to use. We will set up help desks in every tea garden starting Monday to assist them.”
Trinamool leadership in Alipurduar alleged that only 2 lakh forms have reportedly reached Alipurduar, despite a district requirement of 15 lakh. “People were ready to fill out the forms, but BLOs could not distribute them. We don’t know when adequate forms will reach the district,” said Sourav Chakraborty, a former MLA and a Trinamool leader.
Enclave dwellers’ issue
Residents of former Bangladeshi enclaves in Cooch Behar received assurances from the district administration regarding the ongoing SIR on Thursday. After a meeting between the election commission team and the district administration, a four-member delegation from the erstwhile enclaves, which have been designated Indian villages since July 31, 2015, met administrative officials at the district magistrate’s office.
BLA assaulted
Nibas Das, a booth-level agent (BLA) of the BJP, was allegedly assaulted and forced to wear a garland of shoes by suspected Trinamool supporters in Satkhatberbari under Mathabhanga-I block of Cooch Behar on Thursday.