ECI introduced SIR to favour BJP, claims ex-CM

Former Chief Minister and veteran CPIM leader Manik Sarkar on Monday claimed that the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) is an effort to manipulate the voter list in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking at a public meeting organised by the CITU and AIKS in support of the national strike scheduled on February 12 next, Sarkar said, “The Election Commission of India has been acting in the hands of the ruling BJP and wherever this exercise of SIR is being conducted, identified supporters of the opposition parties are having their names deleted from the electoral rolls. Who are these people? They are from the disadvantaged section of the society. Voters from the religious minority groups, Scheduled Caste and poor are at the brunt of this overtly partisan exercise.”

According to Sarkar, such attempts need to be fought politically on the ground.

Criticising Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sarkar said, “The kind of language a Chief Minister is using in his election campaigns has stunned the whole nation. He is openly issuing warnings against the religious minorities. He is advising people to harass Muslims by boycotting them and not paying their dues. And, the Prime Minister and Home Minster are silent. When he is making such statements, the Prime Minister is on his international tour to a Muslim country.”

On the three new labour codes, Sarkar said that these new laws would curtail the right of collective bargaining that helped the workers to negotiate with their employers.

“These new labour codes have been enacted with the intention to snatch the bargaining power of the workers. The obligation on the employers to maintain just and humane conditions for the workers shall no longer be in force. The working shifts had been extended substantially without any provisions for overtime. It looks like the government is in a hurry to enforce these new legislations presumably owing to the mounting pressure from its crony capitalist friends,” Sarkar alleged. Apart from Sarkar, CITU leader Manik Dey and Sankar Prasad Datta among others spoke during the rally.