The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearing at the Chinsurah-Mogra block office in Hooghly was stalled by the Trinamool MLA from Chinsurah on Monday.
Asit Mazumdar, the Chinsurah MLA stormed into the block office while the hearing process was on and demanded the booth level activists (BLA) 2 have to be involved in the process.
The Election Commission had stated at the hearing no representatives of any political party will be allowed. The hearings will be held in the presence of the booth level officer (BLO), the assistant electoral registration officer (AERO), district election officer, micro-observers and observers.
“Why will the BLAs not be allowed in the hearing process? The commission should give in writing why they are not being allowed. Hearings cannot be held without BLAs,” Mazumdar told the media at the block office.
Mazumdar’s action came less than 24 hours since the Trinamool general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee directed nearly 1.2 lakh leaders and BLAs in a virtual meeting to remain vigilant while the SIR hearing process was on.
“We should have an assistance camp near every hearing centre. BLAs should be present at the hearing centres. If officials do not allow them, the party will take up the matter,” a senior Trinamool leader had said quoting Abhishek after Sunday’s meeting.
Mazumdar justified his actions on Monday morning, saying he and his party was protecting the voting rights of the people.
“They are summoning everyone for hearing. Even people who have government issued identity cards, pension holders, whose names are there in the 2002 electoral rolls. This is not the way hearing should be held. The commission cannot decide on citizenship,” Mazumdar said.
On Saturday, after the hearing process started, Abhishek had demanded the EC release the list of 1.36 crore voters whose forms were flagged for “logical discrepancy.”
Though Mazumdar relented after holding talks with the BDO Rajiv Poddar and the Mogra police station’s inspector-in-charge Soumen Biswas, he threatened hearing would not be allowed from Tuesday if BLAs are not allowed.
In South 24-Parganas Magrahat, EC appointed special observer C. Murugan faced angry crowds during an inspection.
The commission has asked the Hooghly district magistrate to submit a report on the incident.
The Trinamool has expressed its ire at the commission for summoning the elderly and the ailing to the hearing centres.
A Trinamool delegation comprising three state ministers Shashi Panja, Pulak Roy, Birbaha Hansda and two MPs Partha Bhowmick and Bapi Haldar will meet the chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal on Sunday afternoon.