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Kolkata, Oct 30 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Thursday accused the Election Commission of discrepancies in West Bengal’s 2002 voter list and alleged that several names have been removed ahead of the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the state’s voter list.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh claimed that the digital version of the 2002 voter list recently released by the Election Commission does not match the figures recorded in the hard copy of the list of the same year.
He alleged that the irregularities were not limited to just one or two booths but were found at many booths across the state. “The Election Commission has uploaded the digital version of the 2002 voter list, but many names present in the original hard copy are now missing. This raises serious concerns,” Ghosh said.
It may be recalled that the last special intensive revision of the electoral roll of West Bengal was conducted in 2002. As per Election Commission guidelines, persons whose names were present in the 2002 list are not required to submit additional documents for verification during the current revision exercise – they only need to submit the old list along with the enumeration form.
Alleging that digital updates of poll panels have led to massive omissions, Ghosh said: “The hard copy of the voter list for booth number 2 in Natbari under Cooch Behar assembly constituency in 2002 contained 717 names. However, in the recently uploaded digital version of the same booth, only 140 names are visible. Where have the rest gone?”
Minister of State Chandrima Bhattacharya was also present in the press conference.
The Trinamool Congress leader further claimed that similar discrepancies have been found in several other constituencies. He said, “In booth number 160 of Mathabhanga College (Room No. 2), there were 846 voters in the 2002 list, but now there are only 416 names. Details of voters from serial number 417 to 841 are missing. Similarly, in booth number 159 under Guma-1 gram panchayat of Habra-2 block of Ashoknagar assembly constituency, the data of the 2002 voter list is completely missing. Unavailable.”
Ghosh also alleged that in booth number 61, data from serial numbers 343 to 414 is missing, and in Majherdabari in Alipurduar, the names of booth level officers (BLOs) of their family members – father, mother and brother – have been removed from the list.
The ruling party in West Bengal alleged that these lapses point to a larger political conspiracy. “We suspect that a conspiracy is being hatched in the BJP office to remove the names of genuine voters from the list through the Election Commission website,” Ghosh claimed.
He further questioned how BJP leaders can confidently claim that a large number of names will be excluded after the SIR. “It raises doubts about whether they already know what’s going on behind the scenes,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress has demanded that the Election Commission remove these alleged irregularities before going ahead with the vetting process, stressing that maintaining the integrity of the voter list is essential for a fair election.
–IANS
SH/PGH