Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari led a team of party leaders to the chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal’s office on Monday, apparently to put pressure on the poll panel to take a more active role in curbing what he called large-scale malpractices in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls because of the “interference” of the ruling party and its strategist I-PAC.
Arriving at the CEO’s office with multiple complaints, Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition and Nandigram MLA, demanded an immediate probe into the irregularities.
While accusing the state government, the Trinamool Congress and I-PAC of “interfering in the SIR exercise”, Adhikari also blamed the Election Commission for remaining “blissfully unconcerned” despite multiple complaints submitted by the BJP.
The BJP leadership’s move marks a clear departure from the party’s usual stance of always defending the EC.
Among the issues he placed before the CEO was the possible addition of 1.25 crore digital entries between November 26 and 28, which Adhikari described as “mysterious” and executed with “unusual hurriedness”.
He demanded an immediate audit of these entries.
He also alleged large-scale malpractice in establishing parental links for voters, claiming that OTPs were forcibly taken from BLOs to ensure “dead, fake and Bangladeshi voters remain on the rolls”.
He said such irregularities were detected in 17,111 polling stations across at least 220 Assembly constituencies, and insisted that the EC’s technical team be tasked with a thorough probe.
Adhikari also sought the removal of two IAS officers — Ayesha Rani and Bijoy Bharti — through the memorandum submitted to the CEO.
State BJP leaders accused the ruling party of dictating terms to BLOs, claiming they were being compelled to act under Trinamool’s instructions.
In the memorandum submitted to the CEO, the BJP said that between November 26 and 28, digitisation figures rose from 5.5 crore to 6.75 crore — an spike of roughly 1.25 crore—which the party described as “abnormal and statistically impossible”.
Adhikari told reporters: “We got inputs from the ground to be sure that this surge was achieved not by the BLOs, rather by the Trinamool’s strategist IPAC. We therefore demanded an order for audit of these 1.25 crore entries.”
The delegation said that “if outsourced agencies are allowed to handle SIR work, the entire exercise becomes illegitimate”.
The BJP also demanded a statewide special drive to delete dead voters, along with a daily progress report. The party further pressed for the replacement of around 35 EROs who below the rank of SDO — the designated level for conducting the exercise. “Despite specific objections, EROs below SDO level are continuing to work in violation of EC guidelines. They should be immediately replaced,” Adhikari said.
The BJP leader argued that these issues required “urgent and decisive intervention”, effectively increasing pressure on the EC and signalling a reversal of the party’s previous position of defending the poll body. He demanded live webcasting of all hearings related to the SIR.
Counter-arguments
Trinamool’s second-in-command and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee launched a sharp counter-attack.
Abhishek said he would take the EC to court if it could prove it had replied to any of the five questions raised by Trinamool MPs last Friday, including on the BJP’s claims that 1 crore names would be deleted in Bengal post-SIR, and why Bengal was targeted for ‘infiltration’ and not other border states. The EC has not replied to Trinamool’s questions.
On the same day, both the CPM and the Congress also visited the CEO’s office with complaints of malpractice and interference by the ruling party in the SIR process.
The CPM alleged that the EC’s responsibilities extended beyond cleansing the voter list. After meeting EC special observer Subrata Gupta, CPM central committee member Shamik Lahiri told reporters: “So far, 41 people have died in the state due to the SIR. Many BLOs have committed suicide in different states of the country as well. The commission will have to take responsibility for this.”
During the meeting with the special observer, the CPM delegation handed over an audio clip to him in which Trinamool leader and Kulpi panchayat samiti member Dhyanesh Sardar was allegedly heard saying that Abhishek had instructed that names of the deceased and shifted voters should not be deleted. The Telegraph has not verified the authenticity of the audio clip.
The CPM submitted the clip to the poll panel. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. This amply proves how the SIR exercise is being carried out in South 24-Parganas and other areas. The BDO office has become the Trinamool party office. Despite telling the EC, no action has been taken,” Lahiri told The Telegraph.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also led a rally of Matuas from Sealdah station to the CEO’s office, calling it “apolitical” and aimed solely at “upholding their citizenship rights”. The party accused both the Trinamool and the BJP of creating fear within the Matua community through the SIR process.
Abhishek’s poll hint
Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, re-elected last year from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat, on Monday did not rule out contesting in the Assembly election next summer from any seat that the party assigns to him.
“I will work according to my party’s instructions. If my party asks me to contest from Nandigram, I will. If it asks me to contest from Darjeeling, I will do that... saying this on record,” Abhishek said.