Mamata to move court against ‘inhumane’ SIR

Sagar Island: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she would move court against what she described as the ‘inhumane’ conduct of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. Addressing a public meeting in Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district, she alleged that fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness linked to the exercise had led to deaths and hospitalisations of several people.

“We are moving court tomorrow against the inhumane treatment and the death of so many people due to the SIR,” she said. “If allowed, I will also move the Supreme Court and plead as a common person against this inhumane exercise. I am also a trained lawyer,” she said. Banerjee alleged that names were being “arbitrarily struck off” the voter rolls without valid reasons, turning a routine administrative process into a source of fear ahead of the assembly elections. She claimed that terminally ill people and elderly citizens were being forced to stand in long queues to prove they were legitimate voters. “How would BJP leaders feel if someone made their old parents stand in line to prove their identity,” she asked. “Since the SIR began, so many people have died due to fear, and several others are in hospital,” she claimed.