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SIR in Kolkata: Election analyst and social activist Yogendra Yadav described the SIR exercise in West Bengal as the biggest voting rights violation in the country so far.
SIR in Kolkata: Election analyst and social activist Yogendra Yadav described the SIR exercise in West Bengal as the biggest voting rights violation in the country so far. He said that SIR is a vote ban conspiracy, the aim of which is to deprive India’s adult voters of votes. By saying this, Yadav has given birth to a new debate in politics. He was addressing a meeting of intellectuals at Bharat Sabha Hall in Kolkata on Sunday. He reiterated that the Special Intensive Review (SIR) in Bihar and West Bengal is just a test. Yadav claimed that BJP will leave no stone unturned to win the 2026 Bengal elections. BJP is using the SIR process as a means to reduce the number of voters. He said that I have said from the beginning that SIR is focused on Bengal. Since Bihar elections were just a few months away, the Election Commission used the state as a testing ground for implementing SIR. Now BJP wants to exert full force in Bengal.
First raised questions on not having SIR in Assam
Yogendra Yadav alleged that after failing to make any impact in the past in states like West Bengal, the BJP is now bent on using SIR as a last resort to reduce the number of voters in such states. He described the SIR exercise in Bengal as the biggest voting rights violation in the country so far. He said SIR is a voter suppression exercise aimed at weakening and disenfranchising India’s adult voters who had voted in previous elections as legitimate voters. Referring to the claim of opposition leader Subhendu Adhikari that one crore voters may be removed after SIR, Yogendra Yadav said that if not in the world, then at least West Bengal will see the biggest disenfranchisement in India. Questioning the criteria for selection of states for SIR, Yadav said if the Election Commission was concerned about infiltrators crossing the border and settling in the country, then why did they leave Assam as the first state? Because there is no opposition government in Assam?
It is not the job of BJP to decide infiltrators and refugees.
He feared that if the names of genuine citizens (who have exercised their franchise in previous elections and have been living here for decades with all residential documents) will not be included in the final voter list published in February, then there is no provision in the SIR to bring their names back in the list and allow them to vote in future elections. Yogendra Yadav claimed that this is very scary. The Election Commission has not been able to give clarification on this issue. The election analyst said that the current SIR is not a repeat of the 2002 process. He stressed that that year people neither had to fill forms nor give documents to booth level officials, as they are being asked to do now. Yogendra Yadav claimed that it is not the job of BJP to decide who is an infiltrator and who is a refugee. It is known that the Election Commission announced SIR in West Bengal and eight other states and three union territories on October 27, while this process has already been completed in Bihar.
Also read: Kharge’s roar on SIR: Enough is enough! If we don’t wake up now, democracy will collapse.
