Trinamool Questions ECI Survey by Private Agency in 81 Assembly Seats

MP, 24 Dec 2025, KOLKATA: Questioning the basis on which the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been conducting a survey through a private agency in 81 Assembly constituencies out of the state’s total 294, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manoj Agarwal, on Tuesday.

In its memorandum, the TMC alleged that a large number of electors from remote and island areas were being flagged for hearings at district magistrates’ (DM) offices over so-called “logical discrepancies” or “data inconsistencies” arising from clerical errors, legacy records, digitisation gaps, or internal database mismatches. The party opposed what it termed “harassment” of voters, pointing out that many are being forced to travel 30–40 km for hearings over minor spelling errors.

The TMC sought clarification on why only 81 Assembly seats were selected for the baseline Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) survey and why a private agency was allowed to conduct it. The delegation urged the CEO to “ensure transparency regarding the role, credentials, and data access of any private agency engaged in the SIR process” and to “apply uniform standards across states, avoiding selective procedural escalation in West Bengal alone”.

The memorandum further demanded that hearings be restricted “strictly to cases involving concrete, material and documented grounds of doubt, supported by recorded reasons, and not based on clerical errors, algorithmic flags, or internal inconsistencies”. It also called for the withdrawal of mandatory lineage documentation requirements, saying these have no statutory basis and disproportionately exclude genuine voters.

The party also sought restoration of decentralised and locally accessible hearing mechanisms, avoidance of mass centralised hearings, and the introduction of alternative and remote verification processes, including online hearings and electronic document submission. It urged facilitative procedures for senior citizens, migrant workers, daily wage earners, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.

Incidentally, in a letter dated October 6 to the Bengal CEO, the ECI stated that it had not received any communication regarding the selection of an agency for conducting the survey and asked the CEO to engage a suitable agency to carry out the baseline survey.

“We raised several issues with the state CEO. People in Bengal are scared as they do not know whether their names will remain on the electoral rolls. There is no need to call voters for hearings over minor spelling errors,” TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya told the media.

Meanwhile, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will begin hearings from December 27. In the first phase, around 32 lakh “unmapped” voters—whose details do not match records from the 2002 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) but whose names appear in the draft electoral rolls—will be called for verification.