SIR forms found at Navi Mumbai shop trigger BJP-Sena clash, voter roll row

Thousands of printed special intensive revision (SIR) forms were allegedly found at a photocopy shop in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar area on Friday, triggering a clash between Shiv Sena (UBT) and BJP activists and raising questions over the sanctity of the voter list revision exercise.

The incident occurred after Sena (UBT) workers confronted a man they claimed was a BJP youth wing office-bearer while he was allegedly getting SIR forms photocopied at the shop, police said.

Local police rushed to the spot and took the alleged BJP office-bearer into custody. Thousands of printed SIR forms were seized from the premises and taken to the police station.

Sena (UBT) workers, however, alleged that the detained BJP youth leader managed to flee the Kharghar police station shortly after being brought in for questioning.

The police are probing the incident, and no case has been registered so far, a Navi Mumbai police officer said.

Local Sena (UBT) leader Balesh Bhojne demanded a thorough investigation into how such a large volume of official forms came into private hands and why they were being photocopied in bulk.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said the incident had raised serious questions over the transparency of the voter list revision exercise. He alleged that the SIR exercise was being used by the BJP to lay the groundwork for victories in future elections.

“The Kharghar incident has, in a way, confirmed our apprehensions about how the SIR exercise is being used,” Pawar said.

Pawar said he had sought a response from the state Election Commission over the incident, but was told that the matter fell under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India.

He also said reports indicated that four booth-level officers (BLOs) had been suspended in connection with the incident, but questioned whether action against the officials alone would be sufficient.

“Suspending only the BLOs is not enough. The authorities who instructed them should also be suspended, and action should be taken against the BJP workers involved,” Pawar said in a social media post. He warned that similar incidents could be taking place elsewhere without being detected and sought a response from the Election Commission.

With PTI inputs