Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury meets PM Narendra Modi in Delhi

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his official residence in New Delhi on Tuesday, according to several media reports. The meeting assumes special significance ahead of Bengal Assembly polls in March-April next year.

Media reports suggest that the Congress leaders discussed a host of issues -- ranging from apprehensions in Bengal regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to isolated incidents of violence against Bengali-speaking people reported in several states.

It is being learnt that the Congress leader discussed the ensuing political situation in Bengal. Since the release of the draft voters list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission, the state has seen numerous protests, mostly led by the ruling Trinamool Congress. Although, major protests took place in Kolkata, other smaller towns in Bengal witnessed large-scale gatherings against the EC exercise.

The hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls began in West Bengal on Saturday with people queuing up in front of 3,234 centres across the State, a senior official said. Senior officials from the Election Commission said that around 32 lakh ‘unmapped’ voters, those who are unable to establish linkage with the 2002 electoral roll, will be called for hearings in the first phase.

Altogether 4,500 micro observers have been engaged for hearings in the first phase, which began at 11 a.m. Voters can submit any of 12 recognised documents, including Aadhaar, as proof of identity and address, officials from the poll body said.

The Election Commission (EC) had, on December 16, published the State's draft electoral rolls following SIR, deleting the names of more than 58 lakh voters on various grounds, including death, migration and non-submission of enumeration forms.