Malda, Nov. 17: The ongoing revision of the voters list by the election commission has resulted in a drastic fall in the number of polling stations in this district.

Additional district magistrate (general) Rajesh Sinha said: “We had 2,180 booths in the district and we have reduced this number to 1,480 following a directive sent by the commission that there should be one booth for every 1,500 voters and the exact number of booths should be arrived at in consultation with all political parties.”

Sinha said the Election Commission wanted to cut down on costs and the number of polling personnel required on voting day. Moreover, with the introduction of electronic voting machines, the time required to cast votes had also been reduced.

“We have booths which have 1,200 voters, but in the draft report sent to the Election Commission we have kept the number below 1,500 for each booth. The booths have been reduced by 28 per cent with 599 booths gone,” Sinha said.

Malda district has 11 Assembly constituencies and the largest number of voters is in Kaliachak which will now have 177 polling stations, with the number being reduced from 233.

Araidanga is the smallest constituency now with 122 polling stations in the draft list while it was 171 earlier.

Sinha said the draft report was finalised in consultation with all political parties. “We have also rectified the list after some political parties raised objections. The entire exercise was conducted at the grassroots level with the block development officers sitting with local politicians and listening to their viewpoints.”

Everyone, however, is not happy with the move to reduce the number of booths.

“The number of booths have gone down but this has resulted in an increase in the distance voters will have to travel to cast their votes, especially in the rural areas,” said Congress leader Savitri Mitra. She said the voters had easy access to polling stations earlier, but now problems might arise.

CPM leader Biswanath Ghosh, said the parties stood to gain from the revision. “It means we will have to spend less as well as deploy a reduced number of polling agents and workers. I had said this during the meetings we had with the district administration,” Ghosh pointed out. He said the state government’s expenses will also be reduced to a great extent.

In the meantime, more new electronic voting machines have arrived in the district. The district now has 1,381 voting machines manufactured by the Electronic Corporation of India.

The inclusion of new voters and the process of fresh revision of the electoral rolls will begin from December 8 and continue till New Year’s Eve. The final voters’ list will be published on February 2, 2004. As of now, Malda has 1,653,610 voters with 804,142 males and 848,691 females.