Feb. 2: The Election Commission today decided to extend the deadline for the publication of the final electoral roll by a week to weed out fake voters and ensure a clean voters? list before the Assembly elections.
The final list, which will see 9.89 lakh deletions and 21 lakh inclusions, will be released on February 22.
?This is the first time in recent memory that the electoral rolls have seen such a major overhaul. This has been courtesy the extra effort put in by the EC, which has sent four teams so far to monitor the roll revision process,? an official in the election office observed.
Chief electoral officer (CEO) Debashish Sen said the figure is based on information received till January 24. ?New voters will be photographed after February 22,? said Sen.
The Election Commission observers on their second round of visit to Bengal to oversee revision of electoral rolls, today asked the administration of Murshidabad, Burdwan and North 24-Parganas to lodge FIRs against 71 persons for submitting fake documents to get enrolled in electoral rolls. An FIR was also lodged against a primary school headmaster in Murshidabad?s Domkol for supplying fake school-leaving certificates. Of the 71 persons, seven were arrested from Gaighata, North 24-Parganas.
The EC?s decision to defer the final publication of rolls follows Sen?s request. Sen had said about 30 lakh names will have to be added to and deleted from the final rolls.
Net addition to the electoral list, at present, stands at a little more than 11 lakh, which accounts for a 2.33 per cent rise in the voting population. The electorate now stands at 4.92 crore.
Regarding deletions, it has been found that Burdwan tops the list with 97,374 names, followed by Nadia?s 94,520 and South-24 Parganas? 90,460. The highest net increase of voters is in North Dinajpur, followed by North 24-Parganas and Howrah. South Dinajpur has registered the lowest voter increase. ?This figure refutes allegations that there has been an increase of voters in border districts,? said state CPM secretary Anil Biswas. Calcutta?s voter strength was 23.94 lakh. After revision, 1.22 lakh names were included and 63,600 names were deleted.
