EC flags 47 lakh voter names for deletion in Bengal; probes three booths with ‘zero self-mapping’

A senior EC official also said, “We found three villages in West Bengal where there is zero self-mapping with the 2002 SIR roll. This means none of the current voters of that booth were living there in 2002, which is almost impossible. We have ordered an inquiry.” According to EC data, those three booths are Part 110, Dinahata Assembly constituency (Cooch Behar) with 782 electors; Part 48, Kultali Assembly constituency (South 24 Parganas) with 768 electors, and Part 53, Pandua Assembly constituency (Hooghly) with 668 electors

Kolkata North has recorded the highest percentage of dead voters — 6.91 per cent of its total electorate, numbering 1,04,076. Kolkata South follows with 6.06 per cent, or 54,985 dead voters. North 24 Parganas has 2,88,000 dead voters (3.46 per cent), while South 24 Parganas has 2,79,000 (3.25 per cent). East and West Medinipur have the lowest percentages of dead voters: 1.4 per cent (59,800) and 2 per cent (80,130), respectively.

Meanwhile, retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta, appointed as Special Observer for the SIR, has begun touring districts. On Wednesday, he visited East Burdwan (Purba Bardhaman) after earlier inspecting the SIR process in South 24 Parganas and meeting SDOs and BDOs.

After initially stating that 2,208 booths in West Bengal had returned 100 per cent enumeration forms, the Election Commission on Tuesday revised the figure down to 480.

The EC has ordered “strict scrutiny” of booths where all enumeration forms were returned, or where only 1 to 10 forms were submitted. “This implies that the number of deceased, absent or shifted voters reported from these booths is either nil or negligible,” an EC official said.

“Wherever questions are raised, we will scrutinise the details provided in the forms. If anyone provides false information, it is a punishable offence. We have also told EROs that even if a name exists on the 2002 list, but the updated information raises doubts, that person can be called for a hearing,” the official added.

He further said the number was revised after district officials were asked on Monday to recheck their figures. “Once we sought reports from districts and asked them to double-check the number of dead, duplicate or untraceable voters, we received this revised figure on Tuesday noon,” he said.

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