Bengal Elections: Was EC Biased Against Mamata? 6 Decisions That Raise Questions
From voter deletions to a massive paramilitary deployment, EC decisions in Bengal are facing scrutiny.
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West Bengal is witnessing an election under siege. The Election Commission introduced certain rules meant only for Bengal and not for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry that went to polls along with it.
These rules have led to lakhs of people being deprived of their right to vote. And now the state is being put under unprecedented security deployment, of a greater scale than even the civil strife in Manipur.
There are six aspects to what can be called an election under siege in West Bengal.
Special Intensive Revision
The SIR in Bengal was carried out along with 8 states and 3 Union Territories. But here, the central government sent thousands of micro-observers, whose job was to review the decisions made by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). According to the law, electoral rolls are the responsibility of EROs. So why were thousands of micro-observers deployed over and above them? Why wasn’t this done in other states Why only in Bengal?
But this was just the beginning.
In every state, names of voters were removed if they were either deceased or had moved elsewhere. This happened in Bengal as well. But in Bengal, a new category was created for removing voters: 'Logical Discrepancy.' Under this, 27 lakh voters were removed. Most of them were alive and had Aadhaar and other documents, yet they were removed from the voter list.
These 27 lakh voters were categorised as 'under adjudication,' and they were told to go to a tribunal. But the clearance of cases is taking place at a very slow pace at the tribunal and it is unlikely that even one percent of the 'under adjudication' voters were restored. Sadly, even the Supreme Court didn't seem concerned about lakhs of voters being deprived of their franchise in this election.
Also, it turned out that Muslims form a majority among the voters who are under adjudication. Isn't this disproportionate targeting of voters known to be non-BJP?
Large Scale Transfers
Along with Bengal, elections are being held in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. Except for Bengal, only about 23 officers were transferred in the other states. But in Bengal, the number of transferred officers was 483. That means, if you take all the transfers from the other four states, multiply that by 20, it would still be less than the number in Bengal.
Paramilitary Deployment
More than 2,400 paramilitary units were brought in for the first phase of elections in Bengal and 2321 companies for the second phase. Just for context, the Centre had sent 288 paramilitary units during the civil strife in Manipur.
Two-Wheeler 'Ban'
Here's another strange rule. The Election Commission imposed a ban on two-wheelers from 6 PM the day before the election to 6 AM on election day. Then, from 6 AM to 6 PM on election day, they imposed a restriction on carrying passengers on two-wheelers.
This was not done in any other state. The timings were reduced after the intervention of the Kolkata High Court.
Troublemakers' List
The Election Commission put out a list of 800 people, calling them troublemakers and instructed the police to detain them. According to media reports, many of these 800 people were connected to Trinamool Congress. The High Court intervened and this move was cancelled.
Raids on IPAC
Just before the elections, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) raided IPAC, a political consultancy working with TMC, and also pressured them. This is not the first time the agency has been targeted.
The Big Picture
In the last few years, under the BJP government, every aspect of elections has been tampered with—whether it's the demarcation of constituencies, preparation of electoral rolls, transfers of officials, or the deployment of security forces. There are hate speeches, government cash transfers during elections, and the Election Commission forgets about the Model Code of Conduct. And even on voting day, attempts are made to intimidate voters, but no action is taken.
The issue in Bengal isn’t about Trinamool or BJP; it’s much bigger than that. The issue is whether elections in India will now be held to grant rights, or to take them away?