Kolkata, October 31: West Bengal BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday sought a fresh Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls, claiming that the exercise conducted ahead of the Assembly elections was incomplete, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Source: PTI via Kalimpong News

"The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) held in West Bengal is incomplete," Bhattacharya said. "Speaking on behalf of the BJP, I want to say that there is a need for a fresh SIR in the state." He was speaking at the inaugural meeting of a trade union of contractual workers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

Bhattacharya alleged that more names could have been deleted from the voter list had the officials involved in the exercise — from block development officers to anganwadi workers — and BJP workers not been intimidated. These are the BJP leader's allegations; they were not independently established in the reports. IANS reported him alleging that forms were snatched from BJP workers and set on fire, that a block development officer was attacked, and that the husband of an ASHA worker was shot during the earlier exercise.

Source: IANS via asiaPOST

Around 91 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise in West Bengal ahead of the state polls, according to the PTI report. Bhattacharya claimed that more than 20 lakh fake Swasthya Sathi health cards had been identified, which he said showed that more bogus entries would have been removed in the first round itself; IANS quoted him putting the number of fake health insurance cardholders at around 25 lakh.

91 lakhNames deleted from West Bengal electoral rolls in the earlier SIR, per the PTI report
20 lakh+Fake Swasthya Sathi cards Bhattacharya claimed were identified (his claim, per PTI)
First timeBJP won the West Bengal Assembly polls this year, defeating the TMC after 15 years in power

BJP chief defends Chief Election Commissioner

Questioning the Opposition's protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Bhattacharya claimed the CEC was being "worshipped" in West Bengal. IANS quoted him saying the state had not seen such violence-free and peaceful elections for many years as it witnessed in the Assembly elections earlier this year. Opposition parties have converged in New Delhi to press their own demands over the SIR and the CEC's removal.

The SIR is an Election Commission of India exercise meant to identify and remove ineligible, duplicate and deceased entries from electoral rolls. Bhattacharya pointed out that the Assembly elections in Bihar were held after an SIR of electoral rolls in that state. The reports carried no announcement from the Election Commission of a fresh SIR round in West Bengal; Bhattacharya's demand is the BJP's stated position, and a response from the Trinamool Congress was not reported.