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Kolkata, Nov 17 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday clarified that neither the Commission nor the office of any state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) ever asks for one-time password (OTP) on any mobile number for work related to the ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR) in 12 Indian states and Union Territories, including West Bengal. An insider in the West Bengal CEO’s office said the clarification on the matter was given after the commission received complaints that some vested interests were demanding such OTPs from voters, claiming that it is an essential part of the ongoing SIR. An insider in the CEO office said, “The Commission feels that this has emerged as a new trend of duping people to extort money from voters. After several complaints were received in the matter, booth-level officials were going door-to-door for enumeration form distribution to personally caution voters about this possible OTP-related fraud. However, now the Commission has decided to issue an official clarification on the matter.” The process of distribution of enumeration forms, which is the first of the three-phase SIR, has started on November 4. In this phase, BLOs are going door-to-door, first distributing two copies of the enumeration form to the voters and then collecting one copy from them. The entire three-phase SIR process is expected to be completed by March next year. SIR was last conducted in West Bengal in 2002. The voter list of 2022 is being taken as the basis for the current SIR. Unlike other states, political controversies have emerged over the SIR process in West Bengal. On one hand, the Trinamool Congress had described the SIR as a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal. On the other hand, the BJP had claimed that the Trinamool Congress’s opposition to the vetting process was due to their fear that the names of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya voters would be removed from the voter list. –IANS src/khz