SIR hearing centre shifted after all villagers receive summons

Responding to protests by all 1,100 voters of a single village in East Burdwan’s Katwa sub-division, who had been served summons for hearings in the second phase of the SIR process, the district electoral officer has agreed to set up hearing centres in their village instead of the one 10 km away, where they were initially called.

The villagers of Ganguly Danga were bewildered and concerned when all the 1,100 voters received calls for hearings from the Election Commission of India. This triggered roadblock on the Burdwan-Katwa state highway yesterday evening, demanding a solution, especially when many of those summoned were elderly and would face difficulties in appearing for the hearing.

Advertisement

Though the joint Block Development Officer, Katwa-1, rushed to the spot last night, the picketers refused to vacate and demanded that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Katwa, should visit them and arrange a hearing centre in the village.

Katwa SDM Anirban Basu said today that the hearing centres would now be set up in the village, if possible, at each of the seven booths there. The villagers are mainly migrant labourers or elderly persons. The majority of their names are on the 2002 voters’ list. But they were reportedly receiving hearing summons to clarify the spelling of their names.

Meanwhile, another roadblock was set up today by the villagers of Naragohalia village of Burdwan-1 block, several hundred of whom have been served hearing notices by the Election Commission, and summoned to the BDO’s office, about 30 km from the village. They blocked the Burdwan-Nabadwip road, demanding that the hearing centre be arranged within five km from their village. Hanif Sheikh of the village said: “Seventy per cent of the voters of Booth numbers 22 & 23 have been unjustly summoned for hearing.”

Belligerent residents from four villages blocked the Burdwan-Katwa state highway for two hours and assaulted a staff of the local BDO office in Bhatar, East Burdwan, today after the names of around 2,500 voters have fallen in the “unmapped category” of the SIR enumeration.

The residents complained that most of their names were there in the 2002 electoral rolls, but the latest draft roll of the Election Commission has somehow omitted these names, despite due submission of their forms. They include middle-aged voters Sona Ghosh of Boro Belun and Gourab Mukherjee of Nasigram. The villagers had brought the matter to the notice of the BDO, Bhatar, but they alleged there was no sign of any positive action as yet.

The angry residents blocked the road and allegedly assaulted Ujjawal Samanta, a staff of Kanyashree department of Bhatar BDO office.