ECI directs BLA and politics to stay away during hearing in SIR case
Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday directed the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal to ensure that booth-level agents (BLAs) or representatives of any political party do not interfere during the ongoing hearings on the draft voter list in the state.
The hearings are part of the second stage of the three-stage Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal.
The ECI’s directive comes after recent incidents in Hooghly and Cooch Behar districts, where hearing sessions were allegedly disrupted and forcibly stopped following the interference of three Trinamool Congress MLAs, including a senior member of the state cabinet.
According to sources, the MLAs demanded the entry and presence of their party’s BLAs during the hearing sessions, leading to the disruption.
The Commission has also directed the CEO’s office to direct the District Magistrate and District Electoral Officer to take necessary action in case of any such interference or attempts to forcibly stop hearing sessions in any district.
A senior official from the CEO’s office said, “In its directive to the CEO’s office, the Commission stated that it is essential to eliminate BLA or political interference from any party to maintain fairness, neutrality, and transparency in the hearing process.”
Earlier this week, the ECI clarified why it had rejected the Trinamool Congress’s demand to allow party BLAs to participate in the ongoing hearings on claims and objections related to the draft voter list.
The Commission stated that accepting the Trinamool Congress’s demand would require it to allow other political parties registered in the state, including six national parties and two state parties, to participate in a similar manner.
In this case, there will be 11 people at each hearing table—an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), a micro-observer, and eight BLAs representing different political parties.
An insider in the CEO’s office said, “If so many people are allowed at a single hearing table, it will be nearly impossible for election officials to conduct the hearing process smoothly. For all practical purposes, allowing BLAs to be present at the hearing session is out of the question.”
