Ten Trinamool MPs walked out of Nirvachan Sadan on Friday with the satisfaction of having compelled the Election Commission to receive the full 10-member delegation instead of the ceiling of five members it had initially imposed.

However, the MPs said they had not received satisfactory replies — during the interaction of more than two hours — to their queries on the deaths and doubts that have accompanied the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal.

The meeting took place after the party’s Lok Sabha leader, Abhishek Banerjee, wrote to the poll panel demanding an appointment for the delegation.

Previous requests by Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien had not been granted, with the Election Commission (EC) standing on ceremony and insisting it would only entertain communication from the head of the party or authorised representatives previously notified to it.

It also said it would invite only four other members along with the representative.

Abhishek and Bengal deputy minister Chandrima Bhattacharya are the authorised representatives.

After the meeting, O’Brien told reporters: “We first handed to him a list of almost 40 dead because of the SIR process... and we started the meeting by stating that Mr Kumar (chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar) and the EC have blood on their hands.”

He said the delegation — Lok Sabha members Kalyan Banerjee, Mahua Moitra, Satabdi Roy, Pratima Mondal and Sajda Ahmed; and Rajya Sabha members Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, Prakash Chik Barik and O’Brien himself — had asked five questions to the three election commissioners.

“We did not get an answer to any of our five questions,” O’Brien said.

The questions were posed to the commission verbally — no memorandum was given beyond the list of the dead and a reiteration of previous letters from Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to the poll panel on the SIR.

Satabdi elaborated on the questions, which were:

1. If the real intention behind the SIR is to detect “infiltrators”, why is Bengal being targeted while the border states in the Northeast remain untouched?

2. If the poll panel is disregarding the sanctity of the current electoral rolls, through which the voters elected the BJP to power nationally, “Does BJP now admit its own government is illegal?”

3. Numerous booth-level officers (BLOs), who are enumerating voters, as well as voters themselves have died owing to the work pressure and panic arising out of the SIR. Will the Election Commission take responsibility?

4. Why is the commission refusing to allow “Bangla Sahayata Kendra” staff to
assist with data entry tasks when, in Bihar, 1.8 lakh “Jeevika Didis” — members of
self-help groups who had received a ₹10,000 government grant — were deputed on polling duties?

5. BJP leaders are claiming that 1 crore names will be deleted in Bengal; does this mean the BJP is now running the commission?

“The CEC said these were mere allegations. To our surprise, it seemed that both
the CEO office in Bengal and the CEC had no knowledge of the deaths of these BLOs,” Mahua said.

She added: “You have imposed an arbitrary 30-day deadline between 4 November and 4 December. Teachers and part-time teachers enlisted as BLOs are under tremendous work pressure in rural areas.

“The average number of enumeration forms that BLOs have to upload per day in my district ranges from 125 to 150. In a place where you don’t have continuous Wi-Fi, after an entire day of work a BLO has to upload 125 forms onto a server that is down for
eight hours....

“No technical glitches have been resolved by the EC as a result of which BLOs are under tremendous pressure and the EC, unfortunately, now has blood... on their hands.”

In a WhatsApp message to this newspaper, a poll panel spokesperson said: “ECI gave point-wise rebuttal of all apprehensions and each baseless allegation made by the AITC Delegation.

“ECI further requested them to give claims and objections after 9 December when the draft list is shared with them. Till then, they should not interfere with the independent functioning of BLOs, EROs and DEOs who are State Government employees on deputation to election-related works.”

The spokesperson said the poll panel had written to the Bengal DGP and the Calcutta police commissioner to “ensure that BLOs are not pressurised and threatened by political party workers” and had told the Trinamool delegation to “refrain from spreading misinformation...”

The spokesperson added: “Based on recent incidents relating to breach of security at the office of the CEO WB, ECI has directed the office to be shifted to a security-appropriate location. ECI has also directed Kolkata Police Commissioner to ensure complete security of the existing as well as the new office of the CEO WB.

“ECI also told the delegation of AITC not to influence or threaten the BLOs regarding dead, shifted and duplicate voters. ECI also told the AITC delegation that only Indian citizens are entitled to vote. As per Article 326 of the Constitution of India, foreigners cannot be allowed to vote,” the spokesperson said.

“ECI has also directed all DEOs (of Bengal on October 27) to ensure new polling stations in slums, high rise buildings and gated residential colonies as is being done across India based on ECI instructions (to CEOs in 2023). This particular instruction (reiterated by the EC to the Bengal CEO on Friday) has been repeated to all DEOs for strict compliance failing which strict action will be initiated by ECI, although this is being opposed by AITC.

“ECI also told the AITC Delegation that it is very strange that the enhanced honorarium approved by ECI has not yet been disbursed by the State Government. This should be done without any further delay. ECI also told the AITC Delegation in clear terms that preparation of electoral rolls as well as conduct elections in India are held as per the Constitution and electoral law and that AITC should abide by it,” the spokesperson added.

Abhishek Banerjee posted on X: “The Election Commission is deliberately planting selective leaks to falsely claim that they have provided a point-by-point rebuttal to the issues raised by the AITC delegation today. These assertions are not just misleading, they are OUTRIGHT LIES. If the EC truly has nothing to hide and actually believes in transparency, then instead of hiding behind motivated leaks, it must immediately release the full CCTV footage and every piece of evidence it claims to possess. Anything less only exposes their bad faith and raises serious questions about their intent... If energy is available for planting stories, surely it can be redirected to answering the five simple questions.”

Since the enumeration began on November 4, forms have been given to 99.43 per cent of the almost 51 crore registered voters in 12 states and Union Territories. Of the filled-in forms, 74.1 per cent have been digitised so far.

The Opposition argues that placing on the voters the onus of finding their or their ancestors’ names on the previous intensively revised rolls from decades ago has
put an excessive load on the BLOs, compelling them to help most of the voters who are not digitally savvy. The poll panel has not publicly responded to the charge.

An extension of the enumeration period would have to take into account further changes such as citizens turning 18 between October 1 and January 1 — the dates for calculating age relating to enumeration — as well as deaths during this period.