KOLKATTA — The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to file a short affidavit detailing the process by which the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being implemented in West Bengal.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen passed the direction while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the conduct of the SIR in the state. The court asked the ECI to file its affidavit by November 18.
On October 31, the petition was filed at the Calcutta High Court seeking a court-monitored SIR exercise in West Bengal. In the petition, the petitioner had also sought the court’s intervention so that the time period for conducting the revision exercise would be extended.
At the same time, the petitioner had prayed for the Calcutta High Court’s direction to the ECI to give a detailed explanation on why the SIR exercise is necessary.
The matter came up for hearing last Friday and at the end of the hearing the division bench directed the ECI to file an affidavit on the commission’s arguments in the matter by November 19.
During the hearing on Friday, the petitioner’s counsel also sought specific directions from the court on the protection of booth-level officers (BLOs), considering that the BLOs are often being subjected to threats while carrying out the SIR exercise.
However, the division bench refused to give any separate direction on this issue of protection for the BLOs. The division bench observed that since the state government was well aware of how to ensure the safety of its own employees, there was no need for a separate direction from the court in the matter.
The first stage of the three-stage SIR in West Bengal has already started on November 4. In the first stage, the BLOs are going to the doorsteps of the voters with the enumeration forms.
The entire SIR exercise is expected to be completed by March, and soon after that, West Bengal is slated to go for the crucial assembly elections. The last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002. — With inputs from IANS
