Kolkata: The highest concentration of the “unmapped” voters was found in the Matua-dominated Assembly constituencies of North 24-Parganas and Nadia, with BJP MLA Subrata Thakur’s Gaighata registering 14.51 per cent no mapping category voters, revealed the critical analysis of the draft electoral rolls.
In the neighbouring Assembly seat of Bagda, the unmapped voter number stood at 12.69 per cent despite the minority share of 11.97 per cent. According to the draft roll, Habra Assembly Constituency in North 24-Parganas saw 13.6 per cent of “no mapping” category voters while Ashokenagar registered 11.8 and Bongaon North 11.3 per cent.
Interestingly, the BJP brought the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), allegedly keeping these people in mind. In around 17 assembly seats spread over Nadia and North 24-Parganas, particularly in the Matua dominated areas, the “No Mapping” category of voters were as high as 9.47%.
A senior member of the Matua Mahasangha claimed that similar conditions exist in various constituencies of Nadia including Ranaghat and the Canning constituency in South 24-Parganas. The Matua dominated Kalyani registered 11.9 per cent unmapped voters. In contrast to this, the Muslim-dominated district of Murshidabad has negligible unmapped voters.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) data, in Domkal, with 77.67 per cent Muslim voters, the “no mapping” category voters constitute 0.42 per cent, in Raninagar with 75.40 per cent Muslim population, the unmapped voters’ number was just 0.91 per cent, and Hariharpara with 74.96 per cent Muslim voters, the people in the “no mapping” category number 0.60 per cent. The political observers believe that BJP may lose Assembly seats in Matua dominated areas of North 24-Parganas, Nadia as they may face a backlash of SIR. After the names of over 86,175 people belonging to Matua community in four Assembly constituencies under Bongaon subdivision have been removed from the draft rolls, the ruling Trinamool Congress slammed the BJP-linked faction of the Matua Mahasangha, headed by Shantanu Thakur, asking where have their assurances gone?
Shantanu Thakur was accused of issuing religious eligibility certificates for Rs 100, which Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had dubbed as a “big fraud” that could lead to genuine voters being delisted. Banerjee had also alleged that, in exchange for assurances of citizenship under the CAA, religious certificates were being issued by the BJP’s Matua faction.