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पूर्व राज्यसभा सांसद Jawhar Sircar के हालिया बयान ने नई बहस छेड़ दी है—जिसमें उन्होंने केंद्र सरकार, विपक्ष और कई बड़े नेताओं पर सवाल उठाए हैं, जिनमें Narendra Modi और Raghav Chadha भी शामिल हैं।

"Retired bureaucrat and former Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal Jawhar Sircar said that the number of voters who turned up to vote are very close to previous years when voting was less and that this was due to the deletions under the
SIR. "There is complete certainty that many genuine voters have been cut off, especially the 34.5 lakh people who have filed appeals to the tribunals. Nobody without a solid identity would go and make an appeal to a tribunal to get reinstated in the final voter list," Mr Sircar, said.
Mr Sircar feels that the high voter turnout could swing either way for either party. "There is a strong angst in Bengal against the way the people have been treated, how their names have been struck off. Many people have voted for who would have otherwise never voted. This may go against the BJP," he added.
"However, it may also be true that they have cleaned up the electoral rolls in such a way that it will be a signal victory for the BJP. However, it is not solely because of the clean up but because they have also eliminated lakhs of voters," Mr. Sircar added.
Mr. Sircar said that it could be possibility that many minority voters and TMC cadres have come out in large numbers to vote because the Bengali pride has been hurt due to the SIR process."

Former TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar likened the I-PAC in Bengal to a “parallel TMC.”

“It is unaccountable but its personnel are there in every block, panchayat, municipality, sub-divison,district, etc as a shadowy KGB type apparatus. Initially, field functionaries of the TMC were cut up —some were quite hostile — but as politicians they know how to ‘manage’ I-PAC foot soldiers so they cansend back good feedback about them. I-PAC must surely be knowing the massive corruption of TMCcadres but Abhishek Banerjee used it as an information gathering organisation and to purge those whowere or are not loyal to him. I-PAC must be costing hundreds of crores but as long as it helps the top duokeep their stranglehold on the vast pyramid of the TMC cadres, it is hunky dory,” Sircar said.

Mr Jawhar Sircar, a former chief electoral officer of West Bengal, did not mince his words, saying: “The SIR is a blatant attack on democracy. The ECI has lost all credibility. It says people can reinstate their names later. What is the point of fixing the mess after the (West Bengal) election? Disenfranchising millions of people this way is unconstitutional.”

Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Jawahar Sircar, who has served as the Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal, said that the Union government is yet to provide the number of illegal immigrants found in the SIR process.

“The Citizenship Act does not provide the Election Commission with the authority to look at citizenship. Yet in effect, the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has tuned the electoral machinery to look for citizenship, which is exactly what his longtime boss and patron (Union home minister) Amit Shah wants, ” he said. 

“Now the Supreme Court says that those who have been left out, their appeals will continue to be heard by the tribunals. It is tragic that the smooth decentralised setup that has done this work so well for 75 years – where hearings of appeals are done by CEO or DEOs (District Election Officers) under  Section 24 of the Representation of the People’s Act – was not given a chance by the Supreme Court. Instead, a grand top-heavy tribunal of high court judges has been set up by the Supreme Court, which is complicated and has hardly moved. It would have been speedier and more people may have got relief if the Supreme Court allowed Section 24 to operate, and stayed away from emotion and political controversies.”

Sircar said that “would be in the fitness of things if those adjudications that are appealed against and appear prima facie to be so excessive are re-examined by a separate agency.”

“No one is infallible and no one is above the law. By disenfranchising, in effect, lakhs of genuine voters, all those involved will be part of a highly regrettable infringement of constitutional rights and curtailment of electoral processes. Such mass scale deletions may harm democratic functioning more than do any purported good that was targeted,” he said.

Alt News reached out to retired Prasar Bharati CEO and former MP Jawhar Sircar. He said this was typically how a government acted when it was in decline and was on the way out. Sircar was also a member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT & Telecom.

“Between July and December of 2023, they introduced a series of amendments, this includes amendments in the Cinematograph Act, Telecom Act, Data Protection Act, and Information Technology Act. In the case of the Cinematograph Act, they claimed that the changes were being brought forth to deal with piracy, but in reality, it is for censorship. Similarly, the Data Protection Act, which should have actually provided protection to consumers from big tech, if turned out to be hardly protecting the users; instead, it has become a big laathi that the government is holding by controlling RTI through a mischievous clause,” Sircar said.

“The Telecom Act was rushed through Parliament in barely two hours. 146 Opposition MPs had been suspended, and we all walked out in protest. That is when the government passed the act without any debate. These are dangerous instruments that have been introduced one after another. Previously, only the IT Act was used to tighten the screws from all sides on social media platforms to take down material critical of the government and the government went after specific dissenters. Now, on panic mode, government has ramped up this weapon as well,” added Sircar, who was the Union culture secretary from 2008 to 2012. He also held part-time charge of I&B ministry twice.

Sircar added, “In fact, it is a propitious sign as this shows a government is totally desperate. This is how a government in decline acts.”

Jawhar Sircar, a retired IAS officer, attributes the mistrust towards the BJP in Bengal to cultural imposition. “Despite Bengalis having an intrinsic difficulty in communicating in proper Hindi, we don’t have any deep-rooted antagonism to Hindi. But whenever we feel that somebody is trying to impose a culture that is not germane to Bengal, there is a huge problem. The BJP is thus being perceived as a Hindi party. The Congress was never branded the same and neither was the BJP under Vajpayee, as they never imposed, and were moderate.”

“Much like when Amit Shah asked Malayalis to worship Vamana instead of Asura King Mahabali on the occasion of Onam, the BJP’s iconography and aggressive display of Hindutva pride through motorbike rallies and open swords have always been met with repulsion from a culture that worships a composite deity. Here, Durga is non-negotiable. Bengal will never have space for aggressive and restrictive Hinduism,” Sircar adds.

জহরের প্রশ্ন, "এত টাকা আইনজীবীদের উপরে খরচ না করে, যে সব বিষয় নিয়ে যুদ্ধং দেহি মনোভাবে দেখাচ্ছেন রাজ্য সরকারের নেতৃত্ব সেগুলিকে কি একটু মমতার সঙ্গে দেখা যায় না? ঘুষ না দিয়ে যে শিক্ষকেরা চাকরি পেয়েছেন, তাঁদের এত ভোগান্তি কেন? আরজি কর-এ নির্যাতিতার মানলায় কি সত্যই বিচার অসম্ভব? হাসপাতালে যারা চুরি করে দাপটে রাজত্ব চালাচ্ছিল তাদের কি কোনও শাস্তি হবে না?"

Retired bureaucrat and former Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar, who has known Banerjee from the time he was a magistrate and she a youth leader, says, “Kejriwal too was prone to such dramatics but he didn’t rise from the grassroots. He was gifted to the nation by Anna Hazare. Remember the Delhi riots? He never went out onto the streets for the people, not even for a day. Banerjee is not like that.”

Modi's latest order forcing all Indians to sing the entire Vande Mataram (not just the first 2 beautiful Hail Motherland part) is illegal, cynically divisive, and distacts a turbulent parliament and nation from real burning issues.
It bullies Muslims, Christians, Neo Buddhists, Liberal Secular Hindus to recite the later stanzas of Vande Mataram to pray to Durga and Lakshmi. Would Hindus like it if they are forced to pray to Allah (God) or to Jesus?

Speaking at the Mathrubhumi Festival of Letters 2026, former bureaucrat and author Jawhar Sircar warned that a fresh redistribution of Lok Sabha seats could significantly weaken the political voice of southern states, despite their success in education, healthcare and population control.

“Delimitation is not a technical exercise,” Sircar said. “It is about power — who speaks for the country and who gets spoken over.”

Sircar reminded the audience that India’s current parliamentary structure was shaped by a deliberate political choice. In 1971, then prime minister Indira Gandhi froze the redistribution of Lok Sabha seats based on population — a decision later extended through constitutional amendments.

At the time, southern states had aggressively implemented family planning programmes, while several northern states continued to see high population growth. Basing representation purely on numbers, Sircar argued, would have penalised states that governed well.

“The freeze was an act of political wisdom,” he said. “It protected India as a federal union, not a headcount democracy.”

Link to the interview published on Nagorik.net and discussed in this context
https://nagorik.net/politics/national-politics/evm-reliability-and-tampering/

Jawhar Sircar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2021 on the Trinamool ticket but has since parted ways with the party, pointed out that “Pratik was Prashant’s right hand”. “The ED’s charge is that they have found PoC [Proceeds of Crime] going to I-PAC. They claim that they are not interested in what I-PAC is doing, they are interested only in the source of funding,” he told Frontline.

প্রাক্তন আমলা তথা প্রেসিডেন্সির প্রাক্তনী জহর সরকারের বক্তব্য, ‘নানা ভাবে প্রতিষ্ঠানের মানের অবনমন হয়েছে। এ বার কার্যত গোল্লায় পাঠানোর পরিকল্পনা হচ্ছে। উচ্চ মাধ্যমিকে বেশি বা কম নম্বর পাওয়াই শেষ কথা নয়। মেধা যাচাইয়ের আরও একটি সুযোগ হলো প্রবেশিকা। সেটাই প্রেসিডেন্সিকে ব্যতিক্রমী করে।’

Speaking to Outlook, Former MP and retired IAS officer Jawhar Sircar spoke of how the SIR has alienated BJP further in the state and helped Mamata up the ante. “SIR, quite obviously has targeted what the BJP calls ghuspetiyas in state, Muslims. SIR has not been able to locate any significant number (of Muslim infiltrators) anywhere in the state, not even in the traditional target of the BJP, i.e, the border districts of the state. Instead it has harassed the entire population and struck terror among the crore plus of Matuas many of whom are illegal immigrants. Advantage's gone to Mamata,” he said.

পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ও কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের বিভিন্ন দপ্তরে দীর্ঘদিন ধরে কাজ করা অবসরপ্রাপ্ত আইএএস অফিসার ও সাবেক সাংসদ জওহর সরকার ডিডাব্লিউকে বলেছেন, ''পশ্চিমবঙ্গের নির্বাচন যখন আসছে, তখন ইডি-র এই তল্লাশির পিছনে একটা রাজনৈতিক কারণ আছে। আইনের চাদর দিয়ে যা ঢেকে রাখা হয়েছে। দরকার হলে তারা অভিযুক্তদের সমন করতে পারত, নথিপত্র নিয়ে দেখা করতে বলতে পারত। কিন্তু এটা এখন নিয়মে দাঁড়িয়ে গেছে যে, তারা যখন ইচ্ছে ডাকবে, অভিযুক্তদের তুলে নেবে। তাদের কাজের পিছনে একটা রাজনৈতিক প্রতিহিংসা কাজ করে।''

তবে জওহর সরকার মনে করেন, ''ইডি এই কাজটা করতে পেরেছে তৃণমূল নেত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের জন্যই। আইপ্যাক এমন একটা বেসরকারি সংস্থা, যা রাজনৈতিক দলের অঙ্গও নয়, আবার তার বাইরেও নয়। দলের নেতাদের নিয়ে রিপোর্টও আইপ্যাক দেয়। মমতা যদি আইপ্যাককে দলের অঙ্গ ঘোষণা করতেন বা দলীয় অফিসে তাদের কাজ করতে দিতেন, তাহলে এই ফাঁকটা থাকত না। এই ফাঁকের ফায়দা ইডি নিয়েছে এবং গোল করে দিয়েছে।''

Former IAS officer and ex-Chief Election Officer (CEO) of West Bengal Jawhar Sircar raised fundamental objections to the process.

“As I have insisted, there is no legal sanctity for ‘Special’ Intensive Revision as the law (Registration of Electors Rules 1960) authorises only ‘Intensive Revision’,” Sircar told eNewsroom.

Explaining further, he said: “So many of the instructions being issued by ECI under SIR are beyond its remit and highly questionable. Rule 8 of the 1960 Rules says, ‘Information to be supplied by occupants of dwelling-houses.—The registration officer may, for the purpose of preparing the roll, send letters of request in Form 4…’”

“No citizen has been issued Form 4, and instead they have been compelled to fill in an Enumeration Form, which finds no mention in the Rules. Based on the ECI’s data and discrepancies thereof, citizens are being summoned like offenders before AEROs, just because the ECI so desires. Dr Sen is one such victim of ECI’s arbitrariness.”