ECI Tightens Bengal Voter ID Rules, Rejects Some Resident Certificates

The Commission said that in districts, permanent resident certificates issued by District Magistrates, Additional District Magistrates and Sub-Divisional Officers will alone be treated as valid identity documents for the SIR.

In the case of Kolkata, similar provisions will apply to certificates issued by collectors.

The Commission also clarified that only permanent resident certificates issued under the relevant legal provisions promulgated in 1999 in West Bengal would be considered valid.

A communication from the ECI headquarters in New Delhi has been sent to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, in Kolkata, instructing that these guidelines be followed strictly.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has been insisting from the beginning that permanent resident certificates issued by any competent authority in the State should be accepted as valid identity documents for the SIR exercise.

Trinamool Congress president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Commission of deliberately refusing to accept such certificates with the intention of deleting genuine names from the voters' list.

However, Opposition parties in the State claimed that permanent resident certificates issued by the Mamata Banerjee government should not be accepted in the revision exercise, alleging that such certificates were issued "rampantly and illegally" to accommodate illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators in the voters' list.

The issue was also raised by the Trinamool Congress counsel during a hearing on the SIR in West Bengal before a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court earlier this month.

- IANS