The All India Trinamool Congress and the Election Commission of India engaged in a war of words on social media, following the resignation of an AERO engaged in SIR duties in West Bengal. Citing the AERO's letter of resignation, TMC alleged that the Special Intensive Revision exercise is "a deliberate ploy to disenfranchise the poorest and most marginalised". The ECI clapped back on TMC's post on X.
Why did the AERO resign?
Mousam Sarkar was an AERO for the Bagnan assembly constituency in Howrah, West Bengal. SIR hearings are being held across the state for voters who were not able to trace the names of kin or had other discrepancies in the electoral rolls of 2002.
In his resignation letter, Sarkar alleged that 'the logical discrepancies category was added to the BLO apps due to sporadic errors while converting the 2002 SIR electoral roll from PDF to CSV format'. However, he said, the names in the electoral rolls in 2002 were taken as "sacrosanct", but names corrected legally through Form 8 were ignored, which led to discrepancies in the matching of fathers' names for progeny mapping.
The AERO further alleged that age and sex data in the 2002 rolls were not correct in many cases, which were corrected, but the Election Commission's sacrosanctity refused to accept the corrections. Sarkar highlighted that in a number of cases, voter names appeared as 'Ya'. He allegedly hinted at fake names in the rolls.
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TMC-ECI trade barbs
Citing this letter, the Trinamool Congress wrote on X, "When the Election Commission's (@ECISVEEP) own officers resign, the SIR scam stands exposed! And this is no longer a political charge. This is now an indictment from within the Election Commission itself."
"An AERO has resigned, stating in black and white that he can no longer participate in the ongoing SIR because the process is logically flawed, administratively dishonest, and morally indefensible", the post further said.
TMC concluded the X post by saying, "In plain terms, the AERO resigned because he saw what this process really is. A deliberate ploy to disenfranchise the poorest and most marginalised. He resigned so that he could live with the knowledge that he did not consciously betray his countrymen or the nation."
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Responding to TMC's allegations, the official handle of the CEO West Bengal replied, "Sri Mousam Sarkar was posted by the State Government as BDMO who functions as E.O. AERO at Bagnan AC. In case of any grievance he should have informed his superiors including the DEO Howrah through proper channel." The reply further read, "Being a Gr-B Officer, he is well aware that his so-called resignation letter is meaningless. He could have sought transfer or DEO Howrah could have proposed some other designated post as AERO vice BDMO. The entire episode smacks of gross indiscipline, insubordination and disrespect to a constitutional body."
Ensuring "appropriate action" against the AERO, CEO West Bengal said, "Since Shri Mousam Sarkar was on deemed deputation to ECI as per Section 13 C and 13CC the R.P. Act, 1950, appropriate action will be initiated against him as per the rules."
The episode has escalated into a sharp political and institutional confrontation, with the Trinamool Congress using the AERO's resignation to question the credibility of the Special Intensive Revision exercise. At the same time, the Election Commission has rejected the allegations and termed the act indisciplined.
