Unauthorized reviews, dubious log-ins, and fuzzy documents: TMC MP to Supreme Court on SIR

TMC MP Dola Sen told the Supreme Court that Election Commission-appointed micro-observers were allegedly overriding decisions made by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), the statutory authority for including and deleting electors, raising concerns that eligible voters could be removed from the final electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.In two applications filed on February 16 and 18, Sen, a petitioner before the Supreme Court contesting the SIR, also claimed that documents uploaded to the system were becoming "blurry" after submission and that officials were allegedly logging into the ECINET portal from locations other than where they were deputed.

On February 28, West Bengal's final electoral roll is expected to be released. The Indian Express asked the EC for comment on Sen's claims, but the EC did not reply.The EC only deployed micro-observers in West Bengal, which was a first, despite announcing the SIR in nine states and three Union Territories on October 27 of last year. The EC informed the Supreme Court on February 4 that the purpose of the 8,100 micro-observers, who work for the Central Government, was to support EROs and Assistant EROs (AEROs). The EC had stated, "It is false to suggest that statutory powers have been vested in the micro-observers."