Status: Not ApprovedHEAD: 24_Kol_SS_TMC SIR Byline: Saibal SenTNN Kolkata The EC lost control over SIR in Bengal, with the Supreme Court now dictating the terms, Trinamool Congress said on Tuesday, hours after the SC verdict. Party MP Mahua Moitra said, “The Apex Court has effectively taken over the SIR process from the EC and given it to the judiciary. The Calcutta High Court is essentially monitoring the process. The disgraced and the discredited EC, which was only looking for ways to disenfranchise voters, was dealt a big blow.” Moitra said, “People who were mapped to the 2002 SIR rolls were made to stand in SIR hearing queues because some micro-observers—who are themselves illegal appointees—objected to their names in voter rolls. These 50-60 lakh odd voters were harassed for no fault of theirs. Now the SC gave them a chance. And we will ensure all genuine voters are back in the voter rolls, either in the Feb 28 list or the supplementary list.” Party MP Sagarika Ghose also hit out against the EC on similar lines. Ghose said, “The Supreme Court ensured that the entire SIR process was taken out of the discretion and overall supervision of the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission of India lost discretionary powers, lost control over the SIR process being carried out in Bengal.” The MP also said, “They (the judicial officers) will now take over the adjudication of the 50 lakh names that remain undecided. Furthermore, the court held that documents such as Aadhaar card and school admit card, Madhyamik examination admit card, will be permitted as proof of identity. This is yet another slap in the face for the Election Commission. The Election Commission is extremely compromised.” Describing the SC order as another resounding victory for “Bengal’s Maa-Mati-Manush” in the Supreme Court, the TMC said in a post on its X handle, “the EC’s arrogant stranglehold on Bengal’s SIR process has been decisively snapped.” The TMC claimed minister Mamata Banerjee “demanded and fought tooth and nail” to safeguard people’s rights to cast vote, and “the SC has now taken the reins, stripping the ECI of its unchecked discretion.” The TMC said, “The Apex Court has authorised the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to deputise additional officers of the rank of Civil Judges with at least 3 years’ experience. If that is still not enough, the CJ can pull serving or retired judicial officers of equivalent rank from High Courts of Jharkhand and Odisha. The ECI is so discredited, so incompetent, so distrusted that the Supreme Court is forced to import judges from other states to finish what was supposed to be their sacred constitutional job.” “And the final, searing slap is that the Apex Court upheld that all documents listed in the ECI’s October 24 notification, and those subsequently cleared by the SC, including Aadhaar cards and Madhyamik admit cards, must be accepted as valid proof. No more arbitrary rejection games,” the TMC said. “No more selective humiliation of Bengal’s voters. The ECI’s desperate bid to rig the rolls by changing documentary standards mid-game was crushed under judicial boots,” it said. MSID:: 128757077 413 |
