NEW DELHI: Upping the ante in its political battle with TMC over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll in West Bengal, BJP on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to strengthen the ongoing process in the state as it flagged a host of concerns, including the presence of alleged infiltrators on voters’ rolls, and demanded deportation or “detention” of those who are not Indians.A BJP delegation led by its state president Samik Bhattacharya presented its demands to EC ahead of the poll body’s scheduled meeting with the state’s governing TMC, which is stridently opposing SIR, on Friday.
The BJP delegation told EC, “The issue of illegal infiltration must be addressed systematically. Clear messaging must be issued regarding exfiltration or detention for individuals who are not Indian citizens.” Strengthened enforcement will help reduce fraudulent applications and ensure infiltrators do not remain on the electoral rolls, it added.BJP noted that illegal infiltration from Bangladesh has remained a longstanding concern in Bengal and they are believed to have obtained fraudulent documents through local networks. Many of them have admitted in live reporting that they have obtained such documents, it claimed.It also rejected the contention of opposition parties that workload is causing stress, even deaths by suicide, among booth-level officers (BLO), saying political coercion by the state’s governing establishment for not deleting the names of ineligible voters is their primary problem.Names of a large number of deceased people continue to be on the electoral rolls, leaving scope for misuse, it claimed.
