Controversies over the submission of Form 7 of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls escalated into clashes between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP at multiple locations in the state on Monday.
The deadline to submit Form 7 — objecting to the inclusion or seeking deletion of names in the poll roll — ended on Monday.
At many places, Trinamool leaders and workers allegedly gheraoed their BJP counterparts, snatched bundles of Form 7 from them, tore them up and set them afire, reportedly in line with directives from the party’s top leadership.
Trinamool believes that the BJP, through mass submissions of Form 7, is trying to delete genuine voters favourably disposed towards the Mamata Banerjee government.
The BJP accused Trinamool of deliberately inciting tension and obstructing what it termed the legitimate right of voters to submit Form 7. The party also accused election officials — EROs, AEROs and DEOs — of “stonewalling” Form 7 submission attempts by making excuses or leaving offices or even refusing to accept the forms.
In Bongaon, Trinamool workers allegedly snatched bundles of Form 7 from BJP’s Bongaon North MLA Ashok Kirtania outside the SDO office. The situation turned volatile and cops had to restore order. Trinamool leaders later claimed that the forms were taken by common people, not party workers.
A Trinamool worker said: “Such incidents of resistance will continue until the SIR exercise is completed. We will not allow the BJP to hatch a conspiracy to delete genuine voters.”
Trinamool spokesperson Tanmay Ghosh said: “The BJP is desperately trying to delete the names of voters and insert new voters by submitting thousands of Form 7. People’s patience has broken.”
In Kalyani, local BJP MLA Ambika Roy, who sought to enter the SDO office with Form 7, was allegedly gheraoed for nearly three hours by Trinamool supporters. Roy had to go back without submitting the forms. "The EC should see this and ensure the submission of forms," Roy said before being forced to leave.
In Murshidabad’s Lalbagh, Trinamool supporters led by former MLA Saoni Sinharoy allegedly snatched a bunch of Form 7 from BJP leaders and set them on fire outside the SDO office. BJP leaders alleged that they were attacked in the presence of the police and that Murshidabad district BJP president Somen Mandal's car was vandalised.
Asansol also saw clashes when BJP leaders went to submit Form 7 at the SDO office. Trinamool supporters allegedly vandalised a vehicle with the forms, prompting police intervention. One BJP activist was detained in connection with the incident. Later, BJP’s Asansol South MLA Agnimitra Paul and other leaders started an indefinite road blockade on Burnpur Road and in the evening sat on a dharna in front of the Asansol South police station, demanding that they be allowed to submit Form 7.
Paul said: “Mamata Banerjee and her cadres are trying their best to prevent us from submitting Form 7. Trinamool supporters beat up our activists, including women. Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should see the ground realities in Bengal.”
A Trinamool Congress leader claimed that BJP leaders had brought over 1,000 Form 7 sheets for submission.
The BJP refuted the claim, accusing Trinamool of resorting to hooliganism out of fear of losing illegal voters.
Clashes were also reported from Kalna, where police intervened as Trinamool and BJP supporters confronted each other over the latter's attempts to submit Form 7. In Hooghly's Chinsurah, BJP supporters alleged that local Trinamool MLA Asit Mazumdar and his associates attacked them when they arrived to submit the forms.
The controversy around Form 7 gained pace when thousands of such documents were allegedly recovered last week from a BJP leader’s vehicle in Bankura’s Taldangra. After this, chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed Trinamool booth-level workers to set up camps outside ERO offices to give what she described as a “proper welcome” to BJP leaders attempting to submit Form 7.
The state BJP wrote to Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Monday, urging that the deadline for Form 7 submission be extended.
State BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya said: “There is no restriction on the number of submissions of Form 7. It is the responsibility of the EC to ensure Form 7 documents are submitted and to complete the SIR exercise properly by deleting duplicate, fake, dead and shifted voters and the Rohingya. Without excluding such voters, elections cannot be held.”
Demonstrations
Agitations and demonstrations against SIR verification hearings continued on Monday. Protesters blocked the Basanti highway for nearly three hours in South 24-Parganas, alleging that the harassment was selectively directed at minorities and hearing notices were being issued on trivial or flimsy grounds.
Similar demonstrations were held in Baduria in North 24-Parganas, Magrahat in South 24-Parganas, Mangalkot in East Burdwan, and Kaliganj and Nabadwip in Nadia, indicating the widening footprint of public resentment over the SIR process and the issuance of verification hearing notices.
In Kaliganj, the SUCI led a protest rally and submitted a memorandum to the BDO, demanding an end to the "arbitrary" and "discriminatory" issuance of hearing notices.
In Nabadwip, tensions escalated when CPM supporters clashed with police after being prevented from submitting a memorandum to the BDO. The situation later escalated with CPM supporters resorting to a road blockade in protest.
More suicides
Reports of panicky suicides have deepened concerns about the human cost of the ongoing SIR exercise.
In Nadia district, Fuzir Khan, a 54-year-old private tutor, allegedly committed suicide at Hogolberia under Karimpur II block on Sunday night. His body was found hanging inside his home on Monday morning. Police said a suicide note was recovered, in which he expressed fear following the issuance of a hearing notice to his wife, whose name did not figure in the 2002 voter list and who allegedly lacked other prescribed documents. Family members said Khan was very scared that his wife would be declared an intruder and deported to Bangladesh.
At Rampurhat town in Birbhum district, Jonny Seikh, a hawker, allegedly committed suicide after panicking over a summons for a hearing.
Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty in Calcutta, Alamgir Hossain in Behrampore and Abhijeet Chatterjee in Durgapur