SIR is 'Software Intensive Rigging', alleges TMC

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal amounted to “Software Intensive Rigging,” while stressing the need for greater transparency in the ongoing electoral-roll revision process.

Addressing a press conference, TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien, deputy leader Sagarika Ghose, and party MP Saket Gokhale demanded that the Election Commission (EC) make public the transcripts of recent meetings held between a party delegation and the full bench of the poll panel.

The press conference came a day after the Supreme Court directed the EC to display the names of voters listed under “logical discrepancies” at gram panchayat bhavans and block offices.

“What does SIR actually stand for? Software Intensive Rigging,” O’Brien said. “The Election Commission is one of the great institutions of our country that has kept democracy vibrant for decades. What we are witnessing now is the dismantling of this great institution.”

He said the TMC was not opposed to the SIR exercise but demanded that it be conducted in a transparent, planned, and humane manner. “We are for SIR, but we are for a transparent SIR, a planned SIR, and a humane SIR,” he added.

O’Brien stated that during meetings with the EC on November 28 and December 31 last year, TMC leaders had offered several “constructive suggestions” to streamline the process. He challenged the poll panel to release the transcripts of those discussions.

“Release the transcripts. It has been 50 days. Do not push our patience. If you do not release them, we will release those transcripts,” he said.

Targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, O’Brien noted that prior to his appointment, Kumar had served as Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation under Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who also holds the cooperation portfolio.

O’Brien asserted that the issue was not “Trinamool versus someone else” but “the people of Bengal versus those trying to make the electoral process burdensome for voters.”

Ghose pointed out that the Supreme Court had directed the EC to function with transparency. “The Election Commission should not work with political interests. It is the constitutional duty of the EC to protect the citizen’s right to vote,” she said.

She added that the discrepancies list and subsequent hearings had caused significant distress, forcing people to run from pillar to post to safeguard their voting rights.