The Election Commission (EC) is set to initiate the second phase of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, with a sharp focus on five bordering districts found to have the highest number of "logical discrepancies." Hearings for voters flagged in these cases will commence after Christmas, starting from December 27.
Border Districts Under Scanner for Maximum Discrepancies
EC officials have identified the bordering districts of Malda, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Nadia as the primary zones of concern. Data analysis revealed that these areas have an abundance of inconsistencies in the enumeration forms submitted by electors during the first phase of the SIR.
An EC official stated, "We have studied this data across the districts and found that more such cases are in the bordering districts... Those who have such logical discrepancies, a maximum of them will be called for the hearing." The draft electoral roll published on December 16 showed a significant drop in voter numbers, shrinking from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore after the deletion of over 58 lakh names.
Seven Categories of "Logical Discrepancies"
The Commission has outlined seven specific categories where logical mismatches were detected in the voter data. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been tasked with scrutinizing all such information to prevent incorrect updates. The categories include:
- Electors whose father is listed as having more than six children.
- Mismatch in the name of the father.
- Age gap between electors and their parents is less than 15 years.
- Age gap between electors and their parents is over 50 years.
- Age gap between electors and grandfather is less than 40 years.
- Electors who enlisted their names after 45 years of age.
- Gender mismatches in records.
Among these, the discrepancy of an age gap with parents of less than 15 years is highest in South 24 Parganas (1,39,702 cases), followed by North 24 Parganas (92,951), Nadia (64,114), Murshidabad (63,148), and Malda (44,920). Similarly, for cases where the parents' age gap is over 50 years, South 24 Parganas again leads with 1,09,567 cases.
32 Lakh Unmapped Voters to be Called for Hearings
In a significant move, the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer announced that approximately 32 lakh "unmapped" voters will be called for hearings in the first phase. These are voters who could not link their names with family members in the reference electoral rolls from 2002.
"We have started sending notices to around 10 lakh such voters from today, while the same will be issued to another 22 lakh voters from Tuesday," an official told PTI. During the enumeration phase, a total of 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified across the state.
The EC has directed that if faults are found in the data, Block Development Officers (BDOs) must update them within seven days of the publication of the electoral rolls. Following this correction window, hearings concerning progeny mapping and logical discrepancies will be conducted. A senior EC official indicated that districts like South and North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia, and the Dinajpurs will see more hearings per day, with the process aiming to conclude by January 31.
The process unfolds against a backdrop of protests by BLOs outside the EC office in Kolkata, who have cited work pressure and stress due to "daily new rules and guidelines."
