SIR 2.0 | Special Roll Observer faces public ire in Bengal hearing venue

Kolkata: The vehicle of Election Commission's special roll observer (SRO), C Murugan, was damaged after an agitating crowd gheraoed the poll official on Monday during his visit to an SIR hearing centre at Magrahat in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, an EC official said.

The agitators, mostly women, blocked the exit route of the SRO's vehicle and thumped on the car bonnet and window glasses with police personnel desperately trying to get the protestors out of the way by forming a cordon, according to a video of the incident, shared by a source in the EC.

The door handle on the driver's side of the car was later found in a nearly ripped off state.

PTI, however, did not verify the authenticity of the video.

Murugan was first gheraoed by the agitators when he reached Shirakol High School, the venue for the ongoing hearing, where protestors alleged "unplanned implementation" of the SIR exercise where ill, aged and pregnant electors have been "forced to appear" for the hearing sessions.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that a group of local protestors, led by the TMC-run Zilla Parishad president Mujibar Rahaman Mollah, gheraoed the special observer and demanded that the party's Booth Level Agents-2 (BLA2) be allowed entry at the hearing sessions.

"It wasn't a political agitation. It was a protest of ordinary people, people with physical disabilities, sickness, elderly indisposed citizens and even pregnant women, who are being tortured by the EC in the name of conducting hearings.

"I was only present to support their demands and also ask that our BLAs be allowed to remain at the hearings to ensure valid voters don't get disqualified," Rahaman said.

The SRO faced public ire later with his vehicle getting targeted by locals while he was trying to leave an adjacent hearing venue.

"I am here to do a job assigned to me by the Election Commission, and I will complete that task, no matter the attempted disruptions," the IAS officer later said.

Asked whether the officer apprehended security concerns, Murugan said, "That will be for the administration to decide."

A Commission source maintained that requests for special police protection for the roll observer went unheeded on the grounds.

"We don't need this SIR. We don't want this Commission to torture us. We want money for the 100-days work and rural housing which the central government has stopped paying," a protesting woman said.

This wasn't the first time that the special roll observer faced public resistance while trying to oversee the ongoing SIR exercise. In two previous occasions, in Falta in South 24 Parganas and again at Haldarpara in Howrah district, the officer faced gherao agitations from resisting locals.

A senior official at the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that a detailed report on Monday's incident would be sought from the SRO and forwarded to the Election Commission.