The second phase of Special Intensive Revision is going to start in West Bengal. The Election Commission will strictly investigate discrepancies in voter lists in border districts and expedite hearing in doubtful cases.
Bengal SIR Phase 2: The Special Intensive Revision i.e. SIR going on regarding the voter list in West Bengal is now going to enter the second phase. The Election Commission has clearly indicated that in this phase the focus will be especially on the districts bordering the state. The Commission believes that most logical inconsistencies have emerged in voter data in these districts. This is the reason why the number of hearings will be increased in the second phase and questions will be asked directly to the voters.
Voter number decreased after removal of 58 lakh names
On December 16, the Election Commission published the draft voter list of West Bengal. More than 58 lakh names were removed in this draft, after which the total number of voters in the state reduced from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore. After this major change, the process of SIR has become more important, because the Commission now wants to thoroughly investigate every name where any discrepancy is seen.
Why is there more attention on border districts?
According to senior Election Commission officials, districts like South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia and North and South Dinajpur are adjacent to the Bangladesh border. In these areas, many irregularities related to age, name and family details have come to light in the voter list. The Commission believes that ignoring these anomalies may raise questions on the transparency of the electoral process in future.
Discrepancy cases divided into seven categories
The Election Commission has divided the irregularities found in voter data into seven different categories. These include those cases where the voter’s father has more than six children registered. There is a spelling or other discrepancy in the father’s name. The age difference between the voter and his/her parents is less than 15 years or more than 50 years. The age difference between the voter and his grandfather is less than 40 years. Those who are registering their names for the first time after the age of 45 are voters. Apart from this, cases of gender inconsistency have also been included in this list.
South 24 Parganas is at the forefront
According to the Commission’s data, the highest number of cases in which the age difference between the parents and the voter is less than 15 years has been reported in South 24 Parganas. 1,39,702 such cases have been registered here. After this, 92,951 cases have been found in North 24 Parganas, 64,114 in Nadia, 63,148 in Murshidabad and 44,920 in Malda. Similarly, South 24 Parganas also tops in cases where the age difference between parents and voters is more than 50 years.
The pace of hearing will increase till January 31
A senior Election Commission official said that hearing cases in South and North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia and North and South Dinajpur will be expedited. A large number of hearings will be held daily in these districts till January 31. For this, complete preparations have been made at the administrative level, so that the name of any eligible voter is not wrongly removed and no illegal name remains in the list.
Strict responsibility given to BDO
The Commission has instructed the BDOs i.e. Block Development Officers of all the concerned districts to thoroughly investigate the data. If any kind of incorrect or misleading information comes to light, it should be updated within seven days of the voter list being published. After this, cases related to genealogy mapping and logical inconsistencies will be heard. The Commission clearly says that negligence will not be tolerated at any level.
32 lakh people invited in the first phase
According to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, around 32 lakh voters will be included in the hearing of the first phase of SIR. These are those people whose names were not found recorded in the earlier voter lists. Especially those voters whose names were not linked with other family members in the voter list of 2002 are being called in this process.
Process of sending notice started
Officials said that the process of sending notices to about 10 lakh voters has started. Notices will also be issued to the remaining 22 lakh people soon. During the census, a total of 31,68,424 voters have been identified across the state whose names are not recorded in the current voter list. The hearing of all these cases will start from December 27.
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