Of Bengal’s 7.66 crore voters, around 25 lakh were not found at their registered addresses, leaving their enumeration forms undelivered in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Election Commission officials said.
Most of these voters are in “urban and peri-urban” areas, including New Town, Kasba, Behala, Rajarhat, Sonarpur, Durgapur, and Asansol, the officials said.
“In many cases, booth-level officers (BLOs) cannot trace the voters despite multiple visits,” Manoj Kumar Agarwal, chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bengal, told Metro on Friday.
“Voters who are at their registered addresses but have not yet received their forms will get them in the next few days,” he added.
According to electoral office sources, most of these 25 lakh people could not be located, leaving their forms undelivered.
“Most of these voters have shifted from their registered addresses years ago. Many hold voter cards in other states but did not apply for deletion from the Bengal electoral rolls using Form 7,” Agarwal said.
One official explained: “For instance, an official of a central government organisation who was based in Asansol was transferred to Bilaspur 10 years ago, but his name remains on the voters’ list here.”
The challenge is compounded by the mobility of people with transferable jobs or residents on long-term travel.
One booth-level agent (BLA) in Kasba recounted that after several visits, the BLO could not deliver a family’s form because they were on vacation in the US. “The BLO cannot give the form to anyone other than a family member,” said the BLA, a political party-appointed agent. The family has said they will submit the form after the provisional list is published.
“It is a tedious task to deliver a form to a voter who is not physically present,” said a BLO.
The collection of forms has begun, with more than 10 lakh submissions so far, Agarwal said.
However, online submissions remain low, officials said. “A common reason for rejection is that the Aadhaar card is not linked to the voter ID. Even minor discrepancies, such as spelling differences in names or surnames, lead to form rejection online,” an official said. These errors can be corrected through physical forms.
Deceased voters
Metro reported on Thursday that around 46 lakh deceased individuals in Bengal have been identified, whose names may still be on the electoral rolls. The deaths occurred over the last five to seven years.
Of these, 33 lakh had Aadhaar cards that are now deactivated, while 13 lakh did not possess Aadhaars, according to sources involved in the electoral roll revision.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar cards, is coordinating with banks, the Life Insurance Corporation, and other agencies, while also cross-referencing state government databases to verify these records.