Kolkata: Not a single genuine voter should be barred from voting, and not a single foreign citizen’s name should be on the electoral roll, Election Commission told the Bengal CEO in a virtual meeting on Friday.“Do ensure that not a single eligible and genuine elector should be barred from voting and not a single foreigner’s name should be on the electoral roll,” the full bench of the commission said at the meeting, which was attended by CEO Manoj Agarwal, district magistrates, special roll observers and roll observers.
EC said every “document and decision” will be stored on the system for years and warned that if a foreigner is found on the roll after “one, two, or even five years”, the officials concerned will be prosecuted.According to sources, the full bench warned several district magistrates (DMs), who are also district election officers (DEOs), for not following the commission’s directive. “Do not think you can escape. Whether today or in the next two or even five years, the officials concerned will have to face prosecution,” a source quoted the full bench as saying.EC also reportedly said that in several cases, personnel involved in the SIR had uploaded newspaper clippings, blank pages and invisible images on the system for verification.“These irregularities were shown to all DMs and central observers through a PowerPoint presentation. The full bench questioned how those were uploaded, who uploaded them and why did the DMs verify them?” a source said.EC clearly stated that the electoral registration officers (EROs) and AEROs could only consider those documents that are mentioned by EC and Supreme Court in their orders on SIR. The DMs will have to take the responsibility of ensuring that ‘fabricated’ or ‘unauthorised’ documents are not accepted, sources said.“Why are documents being uploaded now? Is it to ensure the uploading of manufactured documents?” the full bench was quoted as saying.EC said the DEOs will have to personally verify by 5 pm on Feb 16 that all documents uploaded are as per the approved list. If even one illegal document is found in the system after the deadline, the DM concerned will be held personally responsible and may face action, the commission warned. The IT team was also instructed to monitor the matter.EC reprimanded the DMs of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Malda, South and North 24 Parganas, and East Midnapore for their alleged negligence. The DM of East Burdwan was advised not to make ‘political comments’. The DM of Cooch Behar was reprimanded for the delay in uploading documents. The DM of South 24 Parganas was asked to know under whose authority, the EROs (electoral registration officers) and AEROs (assistant electoral registration officers) called the ERMOs (electoral roll micro observers).All observers were instructed to bring to EC’s notice any negligence of EROs, AEROs and DEOs. The CEO was instructed to send to EC all cases coming to his notice that were verified by DEOs based on inadmissible and illegible documents.
