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ECI Flags 5 Bengal Border Districts for High Voter List Irregularities

The Election Commission of India has identified five districts bordering Bangladesh—Cooch Behar, Malda, Murshidabad, North and South 24 Parganas—where the uploading of unlisted identity documents for voter registration has been abnormally high. Sources in the Chief Electoral Officer's office noted that similar irregularities were marginally high in the Burdwan districts as well. The Commission has directed district officials to remove all unlisted documents from the system by February 16, following a meeting chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner. The final voters' list will be published on February 28, ahead of the ECI's visit to assess the situation and announce polling dates for the crucial assembly election.

Key Points: ECI Finds High Voter List Irregularities in 5 Bengal Districts

  • 5 border districts flagged
  • Unlisted document uploads high
  • Logical discrepancy cases detected
  • Final voter list due Feb 28
2 min read

SIR: ECI identifies five Bangladesh-bordering districts in Bengal with rampant uploading of 'unlisted' documents

Election Commission identifies 5 Bangladesh-bordering Bengal districts with abnormally high uploads of unlisted voter documents ahead of assembly polls.

"Apart from these five states, where the instances of uploading of 'unlisted' documents being abnormally high, similar irregularities have been marginally high in East Burdwan and West Burdwan districts - Sources in CEO office"

Kolkata, Feb 15

With the hearing session on the claims and objections to the draft voters' list in West Bengal concluded and the scrutiny of the supporting identify documents scheduled to continue till February 21, the Election Commission of India has identified five districts in the state where the instances of uploading of "unlisted" documents had been abnormally high so far.

The five districts are Cooch Behar, Malda, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, and South 24 Parganas. All five districts have international borders with Bangladesh, with South 24 Parganas mainly having coastal borders.

"Apart from these five states, where the instances of uploading of 'unlisted' documents being abnormally high, similar irregularities have been marginally high in East Burdwan and West Burdwan districts," sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said.

He also said that the maximum uploading of "unlisted" documents have been detected in "logical discrepancy" cases, while similar irregularities in case of "unmapped" voters had been negligible as in case of "unmapped" voters.

"Unmapped" voters are those who were unable to establish any link either through "self mapping" or through "progeny mapping" with the voters' list of 2002, the last time when the intention revision was conducted in West Bengal.

On the other hand, "logical discrepancy" cases are those where weird family trees have been detected in the course of "progeny" mapping.

"The Commission had once again cautioned the district magistrates, as well as the district electoral officers, to ensure that only the 13 listed documents are accepted as authentic identity proof documents. But even after that, such high instances of uploading of 'unlisted' documents to these districts have irked the Commission," said the sources in the CEO's office.

Incidentally, at a virtual full-bench meeting of the Commission on Friday, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the latter directed the DMs/DEOs that "unlisted" documents already uploaded in the system should be removed from the system by February 16.

The final voters' list in West Bengal will be published on February 28. On March 1, a full bench of the ECI will undertake a two-day visit to West Bengal to assess the post-SIR scenario. Shortly after that, the ECI will announce the polling dates for the crucial assembly election in West Bengal scheduled later this year.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

P
Priya S
"Weird family trees" and "logical discrepancies" sound like serious red flags. The commission is right to be irked. Hope they complete the scrutiny properly and publish a fair list. Our elections must be free and fair. 🇮🇳
A
Aman W
While it's important to have a clean roll, I hope the process doesn't inadvertently disenfranchise genuine voters in these districts, especially daily wage workers who might struggle with documentation. The ECI should be strict but also ensure help desks are active.
S
Sarah B
The timeline seems very tight - removing unlisted documents by Feb 16 and final list by Feb 28. I appreciate the urgency before elections, but hope the quality of scrutiny isn't compromised for speed.
V
Vikram M
Border districts always have these issues. Political parties play games with voter lists. Full credit to ECI for identifying this and taking action. The two-day visit in March is crucial to follow up.
K
Kavya N
The focus should be on why local officials allowed unlisted documents after repeated cautions. Is there pressure from local politicians? Accountability is key. Names of negligent officers should be made public.

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