Fresh conundrum kicked off as the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant EROs (AEROs) & District Election Officers (DEOs) of West Bengal allegedly started refusing to accept Form 7 from Bharatiya Janata Party cadres in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. As the draft electoral roll of West Bengal got published on December 14, workers of political parties continued with their internal evaluation following which they are now appealing to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for deletion of dead/shifted voters by filling up the Form 7 as per the prescribed design of the ECI. As Form 6 is the application for inclusion of name in electoral roll for first time voter or on shifting from one constituency to another or for new voters, Form 7 is an application for objecting inclusion of name of other person or seeking deletion of own name or of any other person’s name in electoral roll due to death or shifting.
While as per the guidelines of the Election Commission, the ERO, AERO, DEO et al have no domain to refuse to accept the submission of Form 7, West Bengal State officials, working under the ECI, are engaging in making this impossible possible in various districts like Nadia, Bankura and Maldah. Such gestures of West Bengal bureaucrats exposes their lack of knowledge of law, protocol and procedures of bureaucratic officiating. It is perhaps such deficits that made the State executives so vulnerable to the arm twisting of political parties ever since the Left Front’s time. The steel frame of the Indian Constitution appears steel free at present, at least in West Bengal.
Unwarranted Criticism Against EC
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched scathing attacks against the Election Commission of India and the BJP in a press conference on January 13 at the State Secretariat on the ground that BJP workers were directly reaching out to the EROs for Form 7 submission. The CM raised objection against submission of Form 7 in thousands by the BJP workers saying ‘It can’t be done’. On the other hand, a senior ECI official said, “It is true that the booth-level agents (BLAs) of the political parties can submit 50 forms a day to the booth-level officers (BLOs). The BLOs would have handed over the forms to the AEROs. But there is no limit if anybody submits Form 7 to AEROs, EROs, DEOs.”
While Mamata Banerjee alleged that the ECI didn’t publish the list of 58 lakh+ voters whose names got deleted on ASDD category, ECI, in reality, published the deleted voters’ list separately in the very mid-December so that omissions by mistake, if any, could be rectified. But no such people except three reached out to the ECI against wrongful deletion of their names as per the CEO office, West Bengal. Banerjee alleged that the ECI published the first-round draft list only two days back while, in reality, the draft list got published in mid-December wherein every voter could confirm the presence or absence of their names by searching with their EPIC number.
Feigning Ignorance
West Bengal Chief Minister was frustrated that more than 58 lakh of voters’ names got deleted as ‘voters of ASDD category’ saying ‘they are declaring living people as dead.’ Though it was no less than a hilarious experience to have an ear on her presser, she raised an apparently serious allegation that the 58 lakh+ voters’ names that got deleted on ASDD ground were not signed by the EROs but ‘by the AI’. She added that the EROs had written a letter from their association to the Election Commission of India that they didn’t sign those deletions. She perhaps was unaware or acted to be so that 58 lakh+ deleted persons’ enumeration forms were submitted & uploaded by the BLOs signed by themselves & this part of the job was not assigned to the EROs either. Mamata Banerjee’s presser appeared much delusive for common people and it seemed she turned edgy to save her Bangladeshi vote bank.
Extensive usage of software technology, AI & machine learning on big data (electors’ data) processing and analysis has changed the comprehensive approach of the SIR. As machine is identifying even the most miniscule human errors and the ECI logically termed those as ‘logical discrepancies’, Mamata sounded edgy while claiming ‘there was nothing called ‘logical discrepancies’ in SIR or the pertaining law. She falsely implicated the Election Commission of India.
SIR 2025-26, for the first time ever, is giving rise to a realisation in the people of Bharat that voting is not a right for all but only for the eligible ones. SIR, thus, is ratifying the Universal Adult Suffrage as per Article 326 of the Constitution of India
West Bengal CM’s annoyance about ECI’s refusal to accept the Domicile Certificate issued by West Bengal Government officials can be identified to be infructuous by checking the list of admissible documents as published by the ECI before Bihar Election where a ‘Permanent Residence Certificate’ featured as the admissible document number six and not a ‘Domicile Certificate’. Conscious people would realise at ease that the two are different things altogether. Moreover, ECI was unambiguous to notify before Bihar Election that the list of eleven admissible documents were an indicative list, not an exhaustive one which signified with clarity that ECI contemplated to change the admissible documents if necessary, based on the power vested upon them by Article 324 of the Constitution of India.
Banerjee was agitated that even after being cleared by the EROs & DEOs, lakhs of names of unmapped voters (total number 31 lacs in West Bengal as per ECI) didn’t feature in the voters’ list due to micro-observers’ counter-entry. While she was furious against the SIR process itself in the press briefing, people in her presser’s live thread were commenting on other issues especially jobs & wages, demanding hikes & confirmation etc. from which SIR seemed to be the headache of only the CM, not of the public.
The Chief Minister appeared to behave not as the chief public representative but as the guardian of the voters while the spirit of democracy is supposed to be the reverse where the people in general are the guardians of the democracy sending their representatives through election. This is where the current SIR process is appearing to be an opportunity for the majority to celebrate Bharat’s fervour of true democracy.
While people are used to hearing the rhetoric that casting a vote is a democratic right, SIR is adding value to the perception of such right along with a sense of responsibility of being a part of the world’s largest democracy. Identifying one’s own self as a legitimate voter with due documents is expected to increase public awareness, sense of accountability and democratic enthusiasm. SIR 2025-26, for the first time ever, is giving rise to a realisation in the people of Bharat that voting is not a right for all but only for the eligible ones. SIR, thus, is ratifying the Universal Adult Suffrage as per Article 326 of the Constitution of India. Interestingly, SIR 2025-26 is the first ever exercise in post-Independence Bharat wherein eligibility of the common public is being evaluated which is certainly a landmark in post-modern Indian history.
Leaders like Mamata Banerjee, however, are rendering all attempts to stall such democratic progress by contaminating an Indian State’s voters’ list with Bangladeshis & Rohingyas which is perhaps why application of AI & attempts to eliminate ‘logical discrepancies’ through physical hearing with cross-verifications at multiple levels (even micro-observers) are creating tremors of anger in her.
