West Bengal SIR: Over 21 lakh dead voters recorded till December 1
KOLKATA: West Bengal has recorded more than 21 lakh dead voters so far till Monday afternoon, according to sources in the Election Commission of India (ECI). In North 24 Parganas district alone, more than 2.75 lakh dead voters have been identified in the state by the ECI. West Bardhaman and South 24 Parganas hold second and third positions respectively in term of dead voters identified by the Commission during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls so far in the state. West Bardhaman district has 1.57 lakh dead voters while it is 1.39 lakh so far till today, the Commission sources said. Sources requesting anonymity said that the more than 90 per cent digitalisation of enumeration forms have already been completed. The total number of dead voters in the state would be figured out after the complete digitalisation of uncollected enumeration forms is done by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across the state. Uncollected forms include voters who are absent, permanently shifted, dead and duplicate. Many BLOs are yet to upload these forms, delaying the process of identifying dead voters, sources said. Following 'instructions' of local administrations, BLOs in several districts are seen reluctant to upload these forms, sources added. Considering the seriousness of the issue, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal and special observer of electoral rolls Subrata Gupta have already held meetings with the district magistrates (DMs) functioning as district election observers (DEO) to streamline the process. Large number of BLOs are not marking enumeration forms (EFs) as ASDD (absent, shifted, dead and duplicate) voters, despite lapse of considerable period. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has come to know about the irregularities in connection with alleged reluctance of many BLOs, who are not regularly marking EFs as ASDD even after they identify cases like absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters, during their door-to-door visits for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state. The Commission has also noted that the EFs identified as ASDD cases are being collected somewhere else without being marked/digitalised in the BLO App. The CEO office area at B B D Bag in the city today virtually turned into a war zone between agitating BLOs backed by the ruling party Trinamool Congress and rival BJP. The agitating BLOs and Trinamool Congress workers were seen shouting slogans like Suvendu Adhikari go back in front of the CEO office building since this afternoon. A BJP delegation led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, met Agarwal and submitted charter of demands to him. Suvendu alleged that I-PAC, Trinamool Congress poll strategic agency, along with BDOs has been forcing a section of BLOs to manipulate enumeration forms so that dead, shifted voters, Bangladeshi infiltrators can figure in the electoral rolls. His pre-scheduled visit to the CEO triggered loud protests by members of the agitating BLOs who have been demonstrating there over alleged excessive workload during the ongoing SIR exercise.
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