Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday (November 24, 2025) said that if the Election Commission of India (ECI) is "genuinely independent", it should protect the booth-level officers, safeguard the rights of voters, and be transparent about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
In a post on X, the TMC's Rajya Sabha MP said that while the party is not opposed to the SIR, it is strongly opposed to the "rushed, haphazard and opaque manner" in which the exercise was being done in West Bengal.
BLOs protest outside Bengal CEO’s office over ‘excessive’ work pressure under SIR
TMC has been vocal in its criticism of the poll panel over reported incidents of death of Booth Level Officers (BLO), particularly in West Bengal.
"Is cruelty essential for doing SIR? Across Bengal and the rest of India, BLOs tasked with SIR are dying of exhaustion or by suicide. A process that should be given a few months is being hastily done in 30 days," Mr. Gokhale said.
