An official booth-wise comparison of Bengal’s current voter list and the 2002 rolls has found barely a 55 per cent match, raising fears of massive deletions during the upcoming special intensive revision (SIR).
The intensive revision, to be conducted before next year’s Assembly polls, will automatically accept as genuine only those voters who have their names or those of their parents on the 2002 list, prepared after the previous SIR in the state.
All others seeking inclusion in the upcoming post-SIR list must furnish one of 11 categories of documents specified by the Election Commission to prove their identity, address and citizenship.
Of the roughly 45 per cent of current voters found not to have their names or those of their parents on the 2002 rolls — going by the booth-wise comparison — a sizeable portion would be voters who changed their addresses within the state after 2002.
Most of them should eventually be able to prove their link to the 2002 list, poll panel officials said. Another segment will include voters who, or whose families, moved to Bengal from elsewhere in India after 2002.
Election Commission sources said that going by experience, these two segments should account for up to 20 per cent of the voters, which still leaves out roughly 25 per cent — nearly 2 crore people.
“Questions can be raised about where they came from,” a senior bureaucrat told this newspaper.
“It will be interesting to see how many of them can fulfil the criteria to get enrolled in the post-SIR list,” a poll panel source said.
Making a guesstimate, he said: “If, say, 50 per cent of these 2 crore people fail to submit the required papers, about 1 crore people will have their names deleted from the post-SIR 2025 list.”
The BJP, which accuses the ruling Trinamool Congress of issuing fake documents to illegal immigrants to swell its vote bank, claims Bengal has around 1-1.5 crore fake voters.
The CPM has, based on a sample survey conducted in Jadavpur, projected this number to be 1 crore.
“So far, the mapping (booth-wise comparisons of the 2002 and 2025 voter lists) has been completed in every district barring Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri,” a senior poll panel official said.
“It appears that about 54 per cent voters who figure in the 2025 list have a link with the 2002 rolls.”
Sources said that preliminary reports from Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri suggested that the statewide figure — for matches — would not cross 55 per cent after the mapping exercise was completed in a day or two.
“Those who have their names on both the (2002 and 2025) lists will not have to submit any document during the SIR to retain their names in the post-SIR list,” a senior bureaucrat explained.
“If their children don’t figure in the 2002 list but are on the 2025 rolls, they will not need to submit any documents except for an identity card that establishes their (filial) relationship with voters on the 2002 list.”
Those who have shifted from one booth area or constituency to another after 2002 can, during the SIR, establish their link with the 2002 list by entering their previous “part” number and booth number on the enumeration form, sources said.
