Will oppose SIR if names of Gorkhas are deleted, say Darjeeling hill parties

SilIguri: The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), which controls the semi- autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in Bengal’s Darjeeling district, said on Tuesday that it will launch an agitation if the name of any Gorkha is deleted from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision (SIR).

BGPM spokesperson Keshav Raj Pokhrel said, “We will launch a movement and hit the streets if the name of any Gorkha is deleted from the voters’ list.”

While the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat has been controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2009, BGPM has worked as an ally of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress. The GTA’s jurisdictional area covers the hilly regions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.

Other prominent hill region parties, such as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which are BJP allies, welcomed the SIR but with the rider that no Gorkha should be denied the right to vote.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, “We welcome it but the Election Commission should ensure that no Gorkha voter is excluded from the roll.”

Rishi Thapa, former secretary general of the GNLF, said, “The SIR is supposed to clean the electoral roll. But we will oppose it tooth and nail if any Gorkha is excluded.”

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the launch of the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, covering roughly half of India’s nearly one billion-strong electorate in an exercise that will become a political flashpoint.

“SIR will ensure no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible elector is included in poll rolls,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the announcement but major opposition parties, including the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Communist Party of India (M) and Shiv Sena (UBT) criticised the move.

“To conduct SIR in a hasty and opaque manner is nothing but a conspiracy by the ECI to rob citizens of their rights and help the BJP,” Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin posted on X.