Hooghly, 29 December (H.S.): A hearing related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list at the Chuchura-Magra block office was disrupted on Monday morning when Chuchura MLA Asit Majumdar protested the exclusion of BLA-2 (Booth Level Agent-2) from the proceedings and halted the hearing process. The protest, which began around 11:30 AM, lasted for about an hour, causing the entire hearing to be postponed.

During this time, long queues formed outside the Block Development Officer (BDO) office. People who had come for the hearing faced considerable inconvenience, and the atmosphere at the BDO office premises became tense. The police from Magra police station were called to the scene to manage the situation.

According to sources, the hearing resumed after about an hour following the intervention of the District Magistrate. However, when contacted, Chuchura Sadar Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Ayan Nath refused to comment on the entire matter.

Regarding the incident, MLA Asit Majumdar said,

“We are against this kind of hearing process. People are being summoned for the hearing arbitrarily. I have seen several elderly people arriving here even in ambulances. What does this mean? People who have been government employees, served for years, and are now receiving pensions, are also being summoned for the hearing. Even if they have passports or their names are on the 2002 SIR list, they are still being sent notices. Where will this harassment end? Nobody knows.”

The MLA also stated that if transparency is to be maintained in the process, BLA-2 should be given the right to be present at the hearing. He questioned why BLA-2's presence is acceptable during form distribution and other tasks, but they are being excluded from the hearing. He also demanded a written order if BLA-2 is not to be included in the hearing. Asit Majumdar alleged that removing BLA-2 (Booth Level Officer-2) could lead to the arbitrary deletion of voters' names, which is unacceptable under any circumstances. He clearly stated that not a single eligible voter's name should be removed from the electoral roll.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey