West Bengal: 30 Ramakrishna Mission monks under SIR judiciary lens; ‘a serious issue’, says order senior

BELUR: At least 30 monks at Ramakrishna Math and Mission, including three of its highest-level functionaries, have been placed in the “under adjudication” category on Bengal’s final electoral roll published on Feb 28.Though RKM monks do not vote, they are keen to get their names included in the electoral roll so they can retain their EPIC cards, an identity document needed for the smooth running of the social services offered by the order.The status of the monks in the “under adjudication” category as voters now depends on the scrutiny of their documents by judicial officers.The RKM authorities said they have been assured by EC that the issue would be resolved and have advised disciples and devotees not to spread rumours.

The authorities are still ascertaining the number of monks under judicial scanner. A monk said at least 30 monastic members of the order — around 15 per cent of those who appeared for hearings at Belur Math as part of the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll — have found their names under adjudication. More could be on the list, he said.EC officials have said around 60 lakh “under adjudication” cases — the ones that saw a difference of opinion between micro-observers sent by the poll panel and electoral registration officers on the eligibility of the individuals as voters — are being reviewed by judicial officers.

A senior RKM monk authorised to speak to the media told TOI, “This is a serious issue. But, as citizens of India, we have faith in the electoral process. We are adhering to the same rules that others follow to get our names included in the list. We hope the issue would be resolved soon.”The monk said, “We do not vote because we do not believe in any bias. We run various services worldwide... An EPIC card is necessary to implement various programmes of the Math and Mission.

It is also a govt requirement. So, we want our names to be retained on the voters’ list.”Another monk explained why their names were flagged for “logical discrepancies” during the SIR, requiring them to appear for hearings.“While embracing monkhood, we dissociated ourselves from our previous life, or purbashram. Since our Guru is our father, we wrote the Guru’s name in the column for ‘Parent’s Name’ in the SIR enumeration form and gave the Math and Mission address as our permanent address.

The AI-based system used for SIR possibly got confused as hundreds of monks cited one person as their father and gave one address as their permanent address.

”Some monks were asked to provide details from their purbashram, including the names of their parents. “That is uncomfortable for us as it goes against the ideals of monastic life. But since govt rules are same for everyone, we must follow them,” a monk said. Bally MLA Rana Chatterjee said, “EC cannot force monks to do anything contrary to their monastic principles.”Om Prakash Singh, BJP’s Howrah district secretary, said, “We suspect negligence by BLOs, AEROs, and EROs. I appeal to EC to recognise the monastic rules and include the monks’ names in the voters’ list.”