Kolkata: The office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer has issued a detailed set of instructions to all district election officers (DEOs) to facilitate the inclusion of vulnerable and marginalised groups in the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a notification said.
According to an official communication on Wednesday, the guidelines were issued following a video conference chaired by senior deputy election commissioner, Election Commission, Gyanesh Bharti, on Tuesday.
The directions are in line with the commission’s guiding principle that “no eligible citizen is left out while no ineligible person is included in the electoral rolls”.
The DEOs have also been instructed to consult booth-level agents appointed by political parties during the enquiry and take into consideration their views during the proceedings.
“The Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officers shall accord due consideration and evidentiary value to such proceedings and records while adjudicating and disposing of the relevant Enumeration Forms submitted by these persons, in accordance with law,” the letter states.
As part of this process, a list of all such enrolled electors by AEROs/EROs will be submitted to the concerned DEO and the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.
Sex worker welfare organisations such as the Society for Human Development and Social Action, Usha Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Amra Padatik, and the rights group Scheduled Caste Federation had submitted written appeals to CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal to protect eligible electors who might be unable to find their lineage or provide documents.
A camp had also been organised by the CEO’s office in the red light area of Sonagachi during the enumeration phase. EROs, booth-level officers, and other officials assisted electors in filling forms and distributed Form 6 and Form 8 to include new voters and edit personal details.
According to Mr. Agarwal, there are roughly 12,000 electors in Sonagachi, and linkage with the 2002 voters’ list has been established for at least 70% of them.
