Isha Khan Choudhury, the lone Congress MP from Bengal, has taken the task of encouraging party workers to assist residents in filling out the enumeration forms for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in his Malda Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency.

Isha, who also serves as the Malda district Congress president, inaugurated an SIR help-camp in the Jalalpur area of Kaliachak 1 block on Sunday evening. Abdul Hannan, the leader of the Opposition at the Malda zilla parishad, and leaders of the Congress’s legal cell, joined him at the event.

“We have opened a central camp in the Sujapur Assembly constituency where our workers will assist people in filling out the SIR forms. We have two key objectives in setting up such help camps in all seven Assembly segments in my Lok Sabha constituency,” said the MP.

“The first is to strengthen our bond with the people through outreach. Second, we want to assure genuine voters that their names cannot be removed from the rolls so easily. The Trinamool Congress and the BJP have been creating fear in people’s minds for their narrow political gains. We are dispelling the fear surrounding the SIR process,” he added.

Isha said that at places where the Congress’s organisational strength was weak, camps were opened in party offices.

Trinamool, however, took a swipe at Isha’s proactive involvement.

“The political reality in Malda is that the Congress, which was once the district’s top party in terms of support base, now suffers from a severe shortage of active workers. That is why the Congress MP is being forced to personally sit in the camp to fill out SIR forms. We heard that no more than 70 people visited the Congress’s camp for assistance,” said Subhamay Basu, a district vice-president of Trinamool.

He claimed that the Congress was unable to open camps in Englishbazar because of its “pitiably low” support base in the district headquarters.

Ajay Ganguly, the BJP president of Malda south (organisational) district, also dismissed the Congress’s efforts.

“The Congress MP’s personal presence at SIR help camps will not improve his party’s electoral prospects. The truth is, like Bihar, a large section of minority voters has decided to shift support to the BJP, instead of the Congress.”