The draft electoral roll for Kolkata, released by the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, has been found to contain a significant number of errors, causing distress and confusion among voters. From misspelled names and incorrect ages to wrong EPIC numbers, the list is not short of discrepancies, prompting a flood of complaints.
Voters Highlight Glaring Mistakes in Personal Details
Residents across various neighborhoods of Kolkata have pointed out serious inaccuracies in the draft Special Summary Revision (SIR) list. Somlata Mukherjee, a resident of New Alipore, stated that her brother's name, Avibasu Banerjee, was incorrectly printed as Avi Basu, with 'Basu' being wrongly treated as a surname.
In another case from Behala, Tanima Chowdhury highlighted a grievous error concerning her deceased father. "The name 'Swapan' has been turned into 'Swapna', and in Bengali, it has been spelt in an even weirder manner," she said, expressing uncertainty about the rectification process and questioning if she needed to apply afresh.
BLOs Cite Technical Glitches, EC Clarifies Procedure
Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are the frontline workers in the voter list update process, reported that changes they had meticulously made and uploaded via the BLO App were not reflected in the published draft. A BLO from Tollygunge area explained, "I checked the draft SIR list and found the changes I made till late into the night are not reflecting. Voters are calling me under the misunderstanding that I did not rectify their errors."
However, a senior EC official clarified the process, stating, "The draft SIR did not have any provision for changing name errors or photos. The enumeration forms were collected for verification of voters already on the roll. For corrections, voters need to fill and submit Form 8."
Common Errors and the Path to Correction
BLOs across the city reported that the most common issues were mismatches in age, fathers' names, and photographs. Sumedha Bhattacharya, a BLO in Sovabazar, gave a stark example: "A mother and daughter's age gap shows just 15 years, but they justified it by saying her mother got married early."
Despite the initial chaos, BLOs like Subhadeep Ghosh from Maheshtala are guiding voters. "I have been receiving calls since morning. Voters can rectify spellings online themselves. For others, I will help get them corrected," he said. The onus is now on voters to identify errors and apply for corrections using the prescribed Form 8, either online or through their BLOs, to ensure an accurate final roll.
