ECI deletes 59 lakh voters in Bengal; flags serious discrepancies in electoral rolls
KOLKATA: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday revealed about 59 lakh deletions of dead, duplicate, permanently shifted, and absent voters in West Bengal. Besides the deletion of such a massive number of voters, the ECI has also found some serious discrepancies after analysing data from enumeration forms (EFs) in the state. In Bengal, 11 December was the last day for submitting EFs under the SIR exercise. The date released by the national poll panel today showed wide variations across assembly segments, starting from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees constituency, Bhawanipore, to Nandigram in East Midnapore, where Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had contested with a BJP ticket against Mamata in the last assembly polls in 2021. TNIE in its earlier reports had revealed the variations in connection with deletions of voters in many assembly constituencies in Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, and North 24 Parganas districts. Chowringhee Assembly constituency in Kolkata has recorded the highest number of uncollectable enumeration forms (EFs) in West Bengal at 74,505, while Jorasanko comes next with 67,578. The abnormally high number of such forms in constituencies such as Chowringhee, Jorasanko, Kolkata Port, Ballygunj, and Bhawanipore, where the Chief Minister had contested in the 2021 bypoll and won, has raised eyebrows among Commission officials. The prime reasons for enumeration forms being deemed uncollectable are categorised as ASDD (absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate), indicating individuals who are dead, permanently shifted to a different location or constituency, untraceable or absent, and duplicates who are found to be enrolled in multiple polling stations or have fake entries. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees Bhawanipore Assembly seat under the Kolkata South electoral district has recorded 44,788 uncollectable EFs, ECI said. The Election Commissions release of constituency-wise deletions from the electoral rolls has opened up fresh political chatter in the state. A poll panel official said Bhawanipore constituency, which had 1,61,509 voters in the rolls published in January 2025, has seen 44,787 names removed in the latest revision. In Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikaris seat, the deletions stand at 10,599 out of 2,78,212 voters. According to the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, a thorough analysis of the data also flagged several highly abnormal irregularities in the voters list. For instance, there has been an abnormal age difference of only 15 years between parents and their children in around 12 lakh EFs. Many officials of the Commission have raised eyebrows after seeing the serious age differences between parents and children. It can be possible in a few forms, but how can it be believable for lakhs of EFs? they questioned, requesting anonymity. CM Mamata files her voter forms on last day after protest; slams misleading media reports
13 C
