Mob Fury at 2 BDO Offices over SIR in West Bengal

Kolkata: Angry mob disrupted the hearing process by ransacking two Block Development Officer (BDO) offices, which are also the special intensive revision (SIR) office of the Electoral Registrar, in two districts of West Bengal on Tuesday.

The first incident took place in the morning at the Basanti BDO office in South 24 Parganas, when attackers stormed a room during the SIR hearing of voters and blocked the Basanti Expressway for hours.

They claimed that they were harassed in order to call voters and make them wait in long queues, and that despite the Supreme Court decision the day before, no receipt was given after the identity documents were delivered.

Later, large numbers of police dispersed the demonstrators. The second incident took place in the afternoon at Sandeshkhali-I BDO’s office in North 24 Parganas. Furniture sets were ransacked while a microobserver was threatened by an angry mob.

At that time, the hearing of voters at booth 53 and 57 of Hathachhi Panchayat was going on. The police later took the situation under control. SIR-related protests also broke out in Dholahat in South 24 Parganas. Angry villagers blocked Dholahat-Ramganga Road around 9 am. This situation caused traffic to stop in the region for a while.

Police later persuaded the protesters to lift the road blockade. At Polba in Hooghly, Trinamul Congress workers blocked roads by setting tires on fire. They claimed that BJP workers had filled Form 7 regarding allegations and objections for deletion of voters’ names.