Supreme Court’s entry in West Bengal voter list controversy, sought reply from Election Commission on allegations of fake names and infiltrators.

News India Live, Digital Desk: Once again a fight has started in the politics of West Bengal regarding ‘Voter List’. The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter after opposition parties alleged large-scale irregularities in the voter list and inclusion of names of ‘fake voters’. This intervention of the court is being considered a big step towards ensuring fairness in the upcoming elections in the state. What is the whole controversy? (The Core Issue) The crux of the controversy are some of the alleged discrepancies that came to light during the revision of the voter list: Allegation of fake voters: The opposition (especially BJP) claims that the state’s revised voter list includes lakhs of names that either do not exist or the names of the same person are registered in multiple assembly constituencies. Issue of infiltrators: The petition alleges that due to ‘demographic change’ in the border districts, there are suspicious Names of citizens have also been added to the voter list. Names of the deceased: Complaints have been received in many constituencies that the names of dead persons have not yet been removed from the list, which can be misused during voting. What happened in the Supreme Court? (Court Proceedings) Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court bench has taken the following steps: Notice to Election Commission: The court has issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking what steps have been taken so far to purify the voter list. Data Verification: The court has sought from the Election Commission a detailed report of the complaints that were filed by various political parties regarding irregularities in the list. Emphasis on transparency: The judges remarked that “a fair election The first condition of the voter list is a pure voter list.” Political reactions Ruling party (TMC): Trinamool Congress has termed these allegations as baseless. The party says that the Election Commission is an independent institution and the opposition is already raising questions on the constitutional institutions due to fear of defeat. Opposition (BJP & Others): Opposition parties say that they only want that the principle of ‘one man, one vote’ should be implemented and the mandate should not be influenced through Bangladeshi infiltrators or fake names. What will be the next step? Now all eyes are on the response of the Election Commission. If the Supreme Court is not satisfied with the Commission’s response, it can order re-physical verification or special audit of the voter list. This may also affect the election dates.