Bengal SIR: ECI announces hearing relaxations for four categories of voters

In a move aimed at inclusivity and compassion, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday evening announced special relaxations in identity-proof requirements for select vulnerable groups during the ongoing hearings on claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls in West Bengal. The hearings mark the second phase of the state’s three-stage Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ lists.

The relaxations will apply to four specific categories of voters: members of tribal communities, sex workers, people from the transgender and other gender-diverse communities, and declared monks.

According to a senior insider from the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO), West Bengal, the commission has decided to adopt a more humane and flexible approach while scrutinising supporting documents submitted by these groups. Unlike the strict verification norms followed for the general electorate, officials have been instructed not to insist rigidly on the authenticity of documents in these cases, recognising the unique social and personal challenges faced by these voters.

For sex workers and transgender persons, the decision acknowledges a harsh reality: many are social and familial outcasts who no longer possess, or never had access to, original identity documents that could establish their citizenship and voting rights. In the case of transgender voters, the hurdles are even more complex.

Officials cited frequent mismatches between past and present records — in names, physical appearance, and most critically, gender — which often make conventional documentation inadequate or misleading.

The CEO’s office, however, underlined that this leniency is strictly limited. “Beyond these four categories, no other group will be eligible for special relaxation in the verification of identity documents,” the insider confirmed.

Declared monks, too, fall within the ambit of this exception, as their spiritual transition often involves a complete change of name, rendering pre-monastic documents inconsistent with their present identity.

The commission’s decision is being seen as an attempt to balance the integrity of the electoral process with sensitivity towards marginalised communities, ensuring that bureaucratic rigidity does not become a barrier to the fundamental right to vote.

With IANS inputs