Kolkata: Civil Society, comprising citizens from various walks of life, on Monday demanded that the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bengal be held on the basis of electoral rolls prepared prior to the SIR 2026.The members of the group alleged that the ongoing SIR has led to widespread anxiety and hardship among voters.“We demand that the forthcoming elections should be held on the basis of the pre-SIR electoral rolls. The rolls that were used for polls till the 2024 general elections should be used, and not the ones after SIR 2026. We want the entire exercise to be scrapped as it is anti-people and anti-constitutional. Responsibility should be fixed for the death of 143 people, including 17 BLOs,” said Mohammad Rafay Mahmood Siddiqui.The group alleged that the SIR process was being conducted in a manner that could exclude a large number of voters, including members of tribal communities, from electoral rolls. They also questioned the legal basis of the exercise, referring to provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.“Like every time, women are facing the brunt of SIR in the harshest possible way. Many have married and have had a change of address and surname. There are those who were abandoned by their husbands. They are struggling to get hold of the documents,” said Nousheen Baba Khan.
