Cops study Bengal voter roll revision to prepare for SIR

HYDERABAD: A team of Telangana police officers is in West Bengal studying the state's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, aiming to identify potential trouble spots before Telangana launches phase III of its own exercise later this year.

The officers reached Kolkata on Saturday, soon after hearings on objections to the draft voter list concluded. Officials said the visit follows a similar advance deployment in Sept, when Telangana personnel observed security arrangements for football legend Lionel Messi's trip to Kolkata. Inputs from that exercise helped Hyderabad police manage crowds during Messi's appearance in the city later the same day. As part of the current study, the team visited several localities in Kolkata and interacted with residents from different communities. While many from the majority community supported the door-to-door verification drive, some minority residents expressed fears that the process could be misused to delete genuine voters. Police are closely tracking at least three types of incidents - attacks on BLOs, destruction of form-7 objection slips, and protests following the reported suicides of overworked field staff.

In multiple areas, including Asansol, Murshidabad and Nadia, BLOs were allegedly assaulted after seeking documents from households flagged for verification.

A senior Telangana intelligence officer said that although West Bengal's demographic profile differs from Telangana's, the operational challenges could be similar - including workload on BLOs, possible politicisation of deletions and the risk of misinformation during the exercise. The Telangana team is also engaging with BLOs and local police to understand the circumstances surrounding the alleged suicides of two field officers. "Two BLOs involved in the SIR allegedly died by suicide in Bengal, and they left suicide notes allegedly stating workload as the reason. There were protests after the suicides, and there were also attacks on BLOs who had to make multiple visits to the houses of voters.

While the demographics in Bengal and Telangana are different, understanding the challenges helps in better handling of the situation when Telangana goes for SIR phase III," said a police official.