TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s kin called for Bengal SIR hearings, triggers row

HEarings in the on-going Special Intensive rescript (SIR) in westward Bengal began on sabbatum, even out as a political slugfest erupted after at least four family members of ruling Trinamool Congress lawmaker Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, were called for them.Dastidar said if the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeks some documents, they will produce them. “I have been in politics for 50 years. If the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] can hit my family like this, then imagine what would happen to a common man,” Dastidar said.Ira Mitra, Dastidar’s mother, sister Piyali Mitra, and sons Biswanath and Baidyanath have been called for hearings. Dastidar, her mother, and sister are voters in Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas.Kapil Ananda Haldar, the local Booth Level Officer, said their names appeared in the draft roll. “There might have been some mistakes in the enumeration form, or some corrections might be needed, for which they have been called. Piyali Mitra has been called for a hearing on December 31, and Ira Mitra has been asked to come with documents on January 8.”State minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who led a five-member TMC delegation that met chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal, accused the ECI of working on a political party’s target to delete at least 20 million voters. “The ECI is working beyond its jurisdiction. The main aim is to delete names,” Bhattacharya said.BJP leader and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said the ECI is doing its job to clean up the voters’ list. “The political parties should help the poll panel. The TMC has become unnerved as fake and illegal voters are its main vote bank. It knows that if these fake voters are deleted, it would not be able to win the polls.”People aware of the matter said over three million voters, whose names could not be mapped with the 2002 voters’ list when the last SIR was held, would be called for hearings. “The hearings started on Saturday and are expected to continue until February 7, 2026. The final electoral roll will be published on February 14,” said a poll official.Around 16.3 million voters have discrepancies in the enumeration forms. The SIR in West Bengal began on November 4. The draft roll was published on December 16. Around 5.8 million names of dead, duplicate, absent, and shifted voters were dropped from the draft roll.Subol Chandra Manna, a resident of Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas, said all five members of his family were called for a hearing on Saturday, with some documents, as there were some issues in the enumeration forms. “We submitted some documents, including our Aadhaar and school certificate.”Sipra Chowdhury, a resident of Bhowanipore in south Kolkata, said their name was not on the voter list in 2002. “Hence, I was asked to come with some documents. I submitted the documents.”TMC and Opposition BJP workers set up help desks outside the offices where hearing processes were going on.