TMC Alleges Voter Harassment During Electoral Roll Revision, Warns of Protest

Kolkata, Dec 2025 : The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday accused election authorities of harassing voters during the hearing process of the draft electoral roll, published after the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal. The ruling party alleged that voters are being unnecessarily summoned for hearings over minor and technical discrepancies, creating confusion and inconvenience among the electorate.

The allegations were raised following a meeting between a five-member TMC delegation and West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal. According to the party, there is no justification for calling voters to hearings for issues such as spelling mistakes or variations in the spelling of names between English and Bengali.

The delegation comprised senior state ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya, Shashi Panja and Pulak Roy, along with Trinamool Congress Members of Parliament Partha Bhowmick and Bapi Halder. After the meeting, the party addressed the media and outlined its concerns and demands regarding the SIR process.

State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the party had clearly conveyed its objections to the Election Commission. “There is absolutely no reason to summon voters for logical or clerical problems such as spelling errors in names or differences in spelling between English and Bengali. Such issues can be resolved administratively without causing distress to voters,” she said.

The Trinamool Congress also demanded that Aadhaar be officially recognised as a valid supporting document in the SIR process. The party pointed out that the Election Commission is currently listing only eleven acceptable documents, excluding Aadhaar, which it said is leading to widespread confusion. Bhattacharya argued that during a similar revision exercise in Bihar, the Supreme Court had directed that Aadhaar be accepted as a valid document.

“The Election Commission claims Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship. But none of the documents they have listed are proof of citizenship either,” Bhattacharya said. She further noted that the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the Election Commission has no authority to determine or grant citizenship, and therefore excluding Aadhaar lacks logical consistency.

In addition to these demands, the TMC called for decentralisation of the hearing process under the SIR. The party urged the Election Commission to conduct hearings at nearby government offices such as Gram Panchayat or municipal offices, rather than requiring voters to travel to block offices or District Magistrate offices.

According to the ruling party, the current arrangement places an undue burden on ordinary citizens, especially the elderly, women and economically weaker sections, who may find it difficult and costly to travel long distances. “Hearings should be conducted ward by ward at local offices, and clear guidelines must be issued. Otherwise, people will continue to remain confused and anxious,” Bhattacharya added.

The Trinamool Congress also issued a strong warning, stating that if the Election Commission proceeds with what it described as the forced deletion of more than one crore names from the voters’ list, the party would launch statewide protests. The TMC maintains that the SIR exercise should focus on transparency and voter inclusion, not intimidation or exclusion.

As the hearing process continues, the party has said it will closely monitor developments and escalate its response if its concerns are not addressed by the Election Commission.
Team Maverick.