Kolkata, Dec 4 The Election Commission of India has identified three polling booths in West Bengal which do not have a single “self” voter. A voter in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the ECI is considered a “self” if he or she has his or her name in the voters’ list for 2002, the base year for the ongoing revision exercise.
In these three booths, 100 per cent of the voters are “progeny” voters, sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, have said.
A voter is considered a “progeny” voter if his or her parents’ names appear on the voters’ list for 2002.
Considering it a near-impossible scenario, the ECI has directed a fresh review of the situation in all three booths.
The first such questionable booth is Part Number 110 under Dinhata Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district, where not a single voter among the 782 is a “self” voter.
The second one is Part Number 53 under Pandua Assembly constituency in Hooghly district, where all the 668 voters are “progeny” voters.
The third such questionable booth is Part Number 48 under Kultali Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, where not even one of the 768 voters is a “self” voter.
As per the SIR protocol, voters both “self” and “progeny” voters, that is, having either their names or their parents’ names in the voters’ list for 2002, are automatically considered as genuine voters and such voters are not required to furnish any documents to get their names retained in the voters’ list during the ongoing SIR exercise.
However, sources in the CEO’s office said, the ECI finds it absurd that not a single voter in any particular polling booth is a “self” voter.
“That is why the ECI has ordered a review of these three polling booths. The commission had also cautioned that if any sort of foul play on the part of the booth-level officer, or election registration officer, or assistant election registration officer is detected in any of these three booths, strict disciplinary measures would be initiated against the electoral officer concerned,” the CEO’s office sources added.
Another information surfaced that the number of booths in West Bengal identified as not having a single deceased voter, or a duplicate voter with names in two places, or any voter who has shifted elsewhere, has undergone a drastic revision and dropped to just 29 as on Wednesday evening, from as high as of 2,208 reported on Monday evening, which subsequently declined to 480 on Tuesday evening.
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