The voters’ identity cards that were recovered from a drain. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Aug. 1: A bunch of voters’ identity cards recovered from a drain at the district police lines this morning has unnerved the administration, with district magistrate Ashok Bala ordering an inquiry into the incident, which has put officials in an embarrassing position.

According to police, 21 voters’ identity cards were found in a drain next to the common kitchen of the police lines located in a busy area of the town.

Pradip Mukherjee, an employee of the irrigation department who stays on Bundh Road, close to the police lines, first spotted the identity cards. He took the help of a sweeper to fish them out of the drain before depositing them with the district magistrate’s office.

The cards had been issued for the residents of Krishtapur Santalpara village located in the Englishbazar police station area. Of the 21 cards, 11 were issued to women and 10 belonged to male voters.

“I saw the cards lying in the drain when I was going to the market in the morning. The local people advised me to hand them over to the district magistrate. Accordingly, I met him at his bungalow and handed over the bunch to him. The magistrate took down my name and address and told me that he might summon me as a witness, when a case was started to find out how the cards reached the drain,” Mukherjee said.

Bala said the incident was “unfortunate.” A thorough inquiry would be conducted.

“We will not spare anyone who is responsible for this incident,” said the district magistrate, who is also the returning officer.

“I have to find out if the cards had ever reached the voters concerned. But if the cards had not been issued at all, who was the custodian of the cards all this time? We have to see if there is a conspiracy behind this,” Bala said.