Officers deployed for SIR hearings have little knowledge of local language: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister on Monday slammed central officers who are deployed in the state for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings for having little knowledge of the local language.

The Election Commission will start the hearing of electors who were dissatisfied with mapping information or unmapped voters — those whose details could not be linked with the 2002 SIR data but whose names appeared in the draft electoral rolls — after December 25.

The poll body will appoint roughly 4,000 micro-observers across West Bengal to oversee and scrutinise hearings in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise, according to sources in the office of the State’s Chief Electoral Officer.

On Friday, the West Bengal chief minister defended the state against criticism, asserting that attempts to defame Bengal will fail and highlighting its growing economic and cultural significance. "Some people want to defame Bengal, but they don't know how much the state has changed. Bengal is today one of the leading logistics hubs and serves as the gateway to South East Asia, East India, and the North Eastern states. It is surrounded by border states like Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha," Banerjee said.