Kolkata: BJP neta from South 24 Parganas, Abhijit Das, has written to the EC expressing concern that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in its current form may lead to mass disenfranchisement.The SIR process in its current “rigid and unfiltered form” runs the risk of “transforming the voter roll purification exercise into a mass disenfranchisement mechanism,” Das wrote in his letter, where he also pointed out potential systemic anomalies.A former BJP district president, Das, who had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Diamond Harbour against Abhishek Banerjee, further said that a large section of tribal communities as well as Rajbanshis and Matuas are facing issues because they don’t have the 13 documents notified by the EC.“In thousands of such cases, their names exist on the 2002 electoral roll and they have lived in India for generations. Yet, they are facing deletion risk solely due to non-availability of documents,” Das said in his letter. “This amounts to indirect disenfranchisement of Hindu-origin Indian communities who lacked formal documents due to poverty, displacement or illiteracy,” he said and demanded relaxations for tribals, Matuas, Rajbanshis and other voters in Hindu clusters.He further pointed out that electors born after 1987 are required to submit two documents, one for themselves and another for their parents. “In rural Bengal, most marginal farmers, daily wage workers and illiterate households don’t possess birth or school certificates, land deeds or legacy records,” he said, adding that the two-document requirement, if applied rigidly, will result in mass deletion of genuine Indian electors.In his letter, Das sought simultaneous “protection of genuine long-settled citizens” and “strict infiltration of illegal foreign nationals”.
