Kolkata: Stage two of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in West Bengal will be more dangerous, claimed Yogendra Yadav, the social activist who has been raising doubts about the real intentions behind the Election Commission of India’s SIR process and had also approached the Supreme Court against it during Bihar’s SIR.
“The second phase will be when the election commission (ERO) will send notice for the hearing to those voters who could not establish their lineage according to the election commission,” said Yadav during his half-hour address at Press Club in the event named SIR: A Challenge for Universal Adult Franchisee, organised by Desh Bachao Gano Mancha and The Educationists’ Forum, West Bengal.
Phase Two May Trigger Massive Voter Deletions
The founder of Swaraj India further said, “In Bihar, after the Supreme Court’s objections, the election commissions had not conducted the second phase of voters’ hearing, and said okay, there will be no more deletions of voters.”
“But in Bengal, the notice could be sent to any number of voters — it may be 50 lakhs to two crores. However, there is no established protocol or SOP (standard operating procedure) for how those documents will be assessed. This will be an arbitrary decision by the EROs,” he pointed out.
Voters of Border Areas, Women and Migrants Most at Risk
“This may be done especially in the bordering areas of Bengal. While women and migrant workers are the most vulnerable,” said Yadav.
The social activist also mentioned earlier that in the first phase, those voters who do not fill out the enumeration forms will have their names deleted instantly, without enquiring anything from those voters, simply saying that since they did not fill the form their names are being removed.
Yadav, citing evidence he had placed before the Supreme Court during Bihar’s SIR, also claimed that the Election Commission has no intention to clean up the electoral roll, but to remove such voters who can vote against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission has not remained an umpire anymore, he said, but has become a player.
“After the final publication of the electoral roll in Bihar, I saw in the Supreme Court that there are 20 lakh households which have more than 10 voters, which means election officials need to verify them physically, but it did not happen. There were also 800 voters in one single house in ten such cases. But the Election Commission did not act.”
“My fear is, Bengal can have the largest number of disenfranchised voters in India or maybe in the world,” he added.
‘Bloodless Political Genocide’: Sharp Warnings Issued
Before Yadav, Dr Parakala Prabhakar, an economist and political commentator, argued, “SIR is bloodless political genocide.”
“SIR is nothing but bloodless political genocide. Earlier genocides happened by killing people. But here it is by depriving a large number of people of their fundamental right, which is the right to vote. Once that is taken out, the essence of citizenship is gone. Then the person or persons are no longer meaningful participants in the political process. That is why I say that with SIR, a new phase is coming — earlier, we voters used to choose governments; now government will choose voters. SIR is an assault on constitutional values. It is a political cleansing of India.”
The other speakers were Professor Om Prakash Mishra and Syed Tanveer Nasreen, while Purnendu Basu moderated the event.
