The Election Commission of India has show-caused a booth-level officer (BLO) and an assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) in Cooch Behar district amid intense political controversy over allegations that some voters were wrongly marked as deceased in the draft electoral roll.
“We are aware of these cases, and the BLO and the AERO have been asked to clarify. Once we get their replies, those would be forwarded to the EC,” Raju Mishra, the district magistrate and the district election officer of Cooch Behar, said on Thursday.
He was speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of meetings attended by Pankaj Yadav, a joint secretary in the department of rural development, who was appointed as the special roll observer in the Jalpaiguri division. Yadav was in Cooch Behar on Thursday.
Yadav attended two separate meetings in the district magistrate’s office — one with representatives of different political parties and another with district election officials.
The meetings focused on identifying errors in the voter list during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) process and finding ways to rectify them.
In Cooch Behar, the controversy erupted after the publication of the draft electoral roll, with allegations surfacing on Wednesday that many living persons had been marked as “dead”.
Abhijit De Bhowmik, the district Trinamool Congress president, alleged, citing documents, that names of living voters were either being deleted or shown as deceased in the draft list.
According to the allegations, voters like Ashwini Adhikari and Shibani Adhikari of booth 54 in Falimari panchayat in Cooch Behar South Assembly constituency were erroneously marked as deceased.
Similar claims were made regarding Aliman Bewa of booth 204 in the Natabari Assembly constituency and Rahul Hossain, a voter of booth 118 in the Mathabhanga Assembly seat.
On Wednesday, De Bhowmik addressed a press conference in the district Trinamool office, sharply criticising the EC and the central government.
He alleged that many voters who were present in their villages were being marked as “not traceable” and that names of several regular voters were missing from the draft electoral roll.
Yadav, when mentioned about the issue, said: “We are looking into all these issues. The objective is to ensure that no eligible voter’s name is excluded and that no incorrect names remain on the electoral rolls.”
He added that the points mentioned by representatives of the political parties in the district were heard and noted during the meetings.