Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Monday, has clarified that neither the commission nor the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of any state ever asks for any one-time password (OTP) in any mobile number for the work related to the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) conducted in 12 Indian states and Union Territories, including West Bengal.
An insider from the office of the West Bengal CEO said that the clarification in the matter had been given following complaints received by the Commission that some vested interest had been asking voters for such OTPs, claiming that it is a necessary part of the ongoing SIR.
“The Commission feels that this is a new trend that has surfaced to dupe people into extorting money from the voters. After several complaints in the matter surfaced, the booth-level officers going door-to-door for enumeration forms distribution had been personally cautioning the voters of this possible OTP-related forgery. However, now the Commission has decided to issue an official clarification in the matter,” said the insider from the CEO’s office.
The process of distribution of enumeration forms, which is the first of the three-stage SIR, has started on November 4.
In this stage, the BLOs are going door-to-door first to distribute two copies of the enumeration form to voters and then collect one copy from them.
The entire process of the three-stage SIR is expected to be completed by March next year.
The last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002.
The voters’ list of 2022 is being taken as the basis for the current SIR.
Unlike other states, political controversies have surfaced over the SIR process in West Bengal.
On one hand, the Trinamool Congress had described the SIR as a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Union government to impose the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal.
The BJP, on the other hand, had claimed that Trinamool Congress’s opposition to the revision exercise was out of their fear that the names of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya voters would be deleted from the voters’ list.
(IANS)
