West Bengal Minister Shashi Panja has received a summons for a Special Intensive Revision hearing, instructing her to appear at an SIR hearing centre in Kolkata on Sunday.
Shashi Panja is the state Industries, Commerce and Enterprises minister and minister of state (independent charge) for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare.
Her name was on the 2002 voter list of West Bengal, and she had provided all the necessary information in the enumeration form for the ongoing SIR exercise of the state’s electoral rolls, she said.
Despite this, the minister was summoned for the hearing, and she expressed her annoyance.
She said it was not a logical discrepancy but rather a flaw in the app that led to the disappearance of her name from the 2002 list.
“I am surprised. My name is on the list of 2002. But because the election commission rushed the SIR work, there are naturally many flaws in the BLOs’ app and software. As a result, although my name is actually on the 2002 list, it’s not showing in the app. They might have thought they would come and do it separately. But I said that I will go and register myself at the SIR hearing just like any other ordinary citizen,” Panja told media persons.
The SIR of Bengal’s voter list began in the state in October last year. The process of verification and rectifying errors in the voter list is underway.
After the completion and submission of the enumeration forms, the hearing phase is now in progress. Many voters are being summoned for hearings due to various reasons, including logical discrepancies and mapping problems.
Earlier, Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen, renowned poet Joy Goswami, Trinamool Congress MP and superstar Dev and many other famous personalities received summons for the SIR hearings. Now, State Minister and Trinamool Congress MLA Shashi Panja has joined that list. She has been instructed to appear at Keshab Academy on Sunday.
“I am a resident of Ward No. 26 in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. This is astonishing. I am surprised. If I have received a summons, then what about the common people? This is ridiculous,” she added.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Sajal Ghosh reacted to the development. He said, “She should have approached the court. She could have shown that her name was on the 2002 voter list, but not in the app. I support her statement that she will stand in line. However, if such a great injustice has been done to her, then she should have taken legal action against the Election Commission.”
