Kolkata: The Election Commission has declined the proposal of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Office (CEO) to accept Madhyamik admit card as a valid document in the SIR 2026. On Thursday, EC under secretary Shakti Sharma conveyed the commission's decision to Manoj Agarwal, CEO, Bengal.
"It is noted that, as per the commission's instructions issued on Oct 27 for the conduct of SIR in Bengal, the Madhyamik (Class 10) admit card is not listed as an admissible document for verification. In view of the above, the commission is of the opinion that the proposal to accept Madhyamik admit card as a valid document cannot be acceded to," states the letter signed by Sharma.
Now, the commission accepts matriculation or educational certificates issued by any recognised board or university as 1 of the 13 notified documents.
The CEO sought clarification from the EC on Jan 1 on whether the Madhyamik admit card could be regarded as the 14th SIR document, since the SIR hearing posed a challenge to many electors, who did not clear the class X board exam but had Madhyamik admit cards mentioning their date of birth. Several BLOs informed their supervisors or EROs about the problems faced by several electors in producing other documents carrying birth details.
"Some of my voters don't have any age-proof document other than the Madhyamik admit card. What will they do in the hearing when the EC has not approved it as a valid document? Today, I got an instruction from the ERO asking me not to upload the Madhyamik admit card as a document for mitigating discrepancies pertaining to age," said a BLO in Tollygunge.
Another booth level officer from the Garfa area said, "I have around five electors who had appeared in Madhyamik but failed in the examination."