A protest led by the CPI(M)-led Left parties was held on Wednesday (March 4) outside the office of West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal at BBD Bag in Kolkata, with leaders and supporters demanding corrections to the recently published electoral rolls before any Assembly election is conducted in the state.

The demonstrators insisted that the voters’ list must be revised to ensure that all “genuine voters” are included.

A large procession of Left supporters marched to the CEO’s office and began a sit-in after Agarwal allegedly refused to meet a delegation headed by Bengal CPI(M) secretary Md Salim.

The delegation had sought to submit a memorandum raising concerns over the electoral roll revision. Salim had earlier called on party workers to mobilise in large numbers.

Left Front chairman Biman Basu had also urged people to gather at the CEO’s office at 3 pm to protest what the Front described as threats to voting rights. When the delegation — which included leaders from several Left Front partners — tried to enter the office premises, police reportedly stopped them from proceeding inside to meet the CEO.

Addressing the gathering during the demonstration, Salim said the protest would continue until the authorities addressed their concerns.

“No vote will be held in the state without proper voters’ list. We wanted to submit our demands to the CEO but he denied to meet us. He asked us to meet his subordinate officer but we want to meet him otherwise we will continue our sit in protest here,” The New Indian Express quoted Salim as saying.

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“We had gone to the Election Commission but it asked to meet the CEO. With instructions of the RSS and BJP the Commission started SIR before the Assembly elections in the state. No voter will be categorised as ‘under adjudication’. No one will be marked as D voter, ‘doubtful’ voter. Persons involved in different scams like coal and smuggling, murders, theft of files and jobs in the state are not under judicial process but common citizens who have submitted documents required for the SIR exercise belong to ‘under adjudication’,” the CPI(M) state secretary said.

“It is almost absurd to conduct Assembly polls in the state without rectifying the voters’ list and enrolling all genuine voters. We will remain seated here for as long as required to ensure voting rights for all and to fight for the people’s right to vote,” he said.
Biman Basu also criticised the Election Commission, arguing that as a constitutional body it should engage with all political parties. Instead, he alleged, the poll body was acting contrary to constitutional principles.

He further claimed that under the pretext of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the political narrative of the BJP had been “materialised into reality” by the Gyanesh Kumar led Election Commission. Bose also accused the Commission of acting in favour of the ruling party at the Centre.

According to the CPI(M), several senior state officials — including district magistrates, subdivisional officers and block development officers — had assisted the Commission in the electoral roll revision process.

The protest follows the publication of the final post-SIR voter list in West Bengal on February 28.

Reports indicate that more than 60 lakh voters were either removed from the rolls or placed under adjudication due to reasons such as duplication, change of residence or questions over eligibility.