CPM state secretary Md Salim on Wednesday said that the Election Commission’s inefficiency had become evident as the name of the doctor, who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year, continued to feature on the existing electoral roll, more than a year after her death.

“The state witnessed a huge protest over the RG Kar incident and Abhaya’s death. There was an outcry across the state and the country. However, even after a year, the name of that unfortunate woman continues to remain on the voters’ list,” Salim said while addressing a protest rally over the special intensive revision (SIR) in front of the office of Bengal’s chief electoral officer, Manoj Agarwal.

An Election Commission official, however, refused to take the blame and said that such names would be weeded out during the ongoing SIR.

“According to the rules, a family member has to inform the EC about someone’s death, or any person outside the family has to lodge a complaint to trigger the process to delete a name from the roll.

“Once such information or a complaint is received, a booth-level officer conducts an inquiry and, upon verification, deletes the name. We need to check whether, after the RG Kar doctor’s death, an application from the family or a complaint was lodged seeking deletion of her name,” the official said.

Salim questioned why the names of deceased persons should still appear on the list when the process of death registration had been digitised.

“This is not an era when accessing information was difficult. Now everything is digital, and the database can easily be accessed by the Election Commission to ensure the deletion of names. The process continues throughout the year — so why should the names of dead people remain on the list?” asked the CPM state secretary.

Addressing the gathering, the CPM leader said he saw “a typical fascist trend” in the BJP’s attempt to use the SIR to deprive a section of the people of their right to vote guaranteed by the Constitution. He said Left parties, including the CPM, would do everything to protect the right to vote of every Indian citizen.

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that to ensure no citizen loses their right to vote, the CPM has opened hundreds of “Voter Adhikar Raksha Kendra” across the state to assist people during the SIR process.

Chakraborty said that while the BJP was trying to disenfranchise a particular section of the population, he said the Left parties would equally work to remove the names of deceased voters.

“We have found that at least 50 names of deceased voters in a single booth still exist on the current electoral roll. Why should lakhs of dead voters remain listed for years? What has the Election Commission been doing? We want to cleanse the electoral roll of dead voters and those who have permanently shifted,” Chakraborty said.

On Wednesday, the CPM and 10 like-minded political parties staged a demonstration in front of the CEO’s office with multiple demands, including ensuring fairness in the SIR process. The protest was led by Left Front chairman Biman Bose, who led a delegation to submit a memorandum to Bengal’s chief electoral officer, seeking an error-free electoral cleansed of dead voters, duplicate entries and bogus voters.

“SIR has panicked the people. People have to be sensitised about the process, and it cannot be used to facilitate the agenda of a particular political party,” Bose said while urging the BLOs to carry out their duties with fairness and honesty.