At a press conference held at Kolkata Press Club on June 26, CPI(ML) Liberation announced its decision to move the Calcutta High Court through a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the restoration of the voting rights of lakhs of citizens whose names have been deleted or kept under adjudication during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
After Bihar, the Modi government has used the Election Commission to carry out the SIR process in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections as part of a calculated political exercise to disenfranchise voters. It pointed out that nearly 9.1 million voters have been affected, with around 6.6 million voters either removed from the electoral rolls or kept under the pretext of "logical discrepancy".
CPI(ML) Liberation noted that although 19 tribunals have been constituted under the supervision of the Calcutta High Court to examine disputed voter claims, there has been no meaningful effort to inform affected citizens about the location of these tribunals or the procedure for reclaiming their voting rights. The Party demanded the immediate restoration of the voting rights of all eligible voters and a transparent, time-bound verification process.
The attack on voting rights is inseparably linked to the growing threat of disenfranchisement being used to cast doubts on citizenship itself. It asserted that the defence of universal adult franchise is inseparable from the defence of constitutional and democratic rights.
The press conference was addressed by CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, West Bengal State Secretary Abhijit Majumder, State Committee members Ruma Aheri and Ajay Basak, senior advocate Raghunath Chakraborty, and several eligible voters whose names had been deleted or kept "under adjudication" during the SIR process.
Addressing the conference, CPIML General Secretary said that going by Amit Shah's diabolical 3D (detect, delete, deport) design, the people who lost their votes in the SIR process are now liable to be deported to wherever and however the state may choose. Short of deportation, the deleted voters are already losing rights and facing endless harassment. It could be the denial of ration or direct benefits, it could be refusal to renew a passport.
He asserted that it's time we all woke up to this massive citizenship and humanitarian crisis being manufactured right in front of our eyes. It is a systematic mockery of the Constitution, citizenship and humanity
Before filing the PIL, CPI(ML) Liberation will publicly release the petition along with 20,000 signatures collected from citizens demanding the restoration of voting rights. The signatures will also be submitted to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court through a deputation in July.
