Bengal Voter List Mystery: Why 2002 Roll Discrepancies Raise Alarm

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh claimed that the recently released digital version of the 2002 voters' list by the Election Commission does not match the figures recorded in the hard copy of the same year's list.

He alleged that the mismatch is not limited to one or two booths but has been found in several across the state. "The Election Commission has uploaded a digital version of the 2002 voter list, but many names that existed 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 West Bengal's electoral rolls was conducted in 2002. As per the Election Commission's guidelines, individuals 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 the poll panel's digital update had led to large-scale omissions, Ghosh said: "In the 2002 hard copy of the voter list for booth number 2 in Natabari under the Cooch Behar Assembly constituency, there were 717 names. However, in the recently uploaded digital version of the same booth, only 140 names are visible. Where have the rest gone?"

State minister Chandrima Bhattacharya was also present at the press conference.

The Trinamool Congress leader further claimed that similar discrepancies have been detected in several other constituencies. "In booth number 160 of Mathabhanga College (room number 2), the 2002 list had 846 voters, but now there are only 416 names. The details of voters from serial numbers 417 to 841 are missing. Likewise, in booth number 159 under Guma-1 Gram Panchayat of Habra-2 block in the Ashoknagar Assembly constituency, the 2002 voter list data is completely unavailable," he said.

Ghosh also alleged that in booth number 61, the data from serial numbers 343 to 414 is missing, and in Majherdabari of Alipurduar, the names of the booth-level officer's (BLO) own family members -- father, mother, and brother -- have been deleted from the list.

The ruling party in West Bengal alleged that these omissions point to a larger political conspiracy. "We suspect that a conspiracy is being hatched at the BJP office to delete names of genuine voters from the list through the Election Commission's website," Ghosh claimed.

He further questioned how BJP leaders could confidently claim that a large number of names would be excluded after the SIR. "This raises doubts about whether they already know what is happening behind the scenes," he said.

The Trinamool Congress has demanded that the Election Commission address these alleged irregularities before proceeding with the revision exercise, stressing that maintaining the integrity of the electoral rolls is essential for fair elections.

- IANS