Over 10% unmapped voters skip SIR hearings, EC flags ‘ghost entries’
Kolkata: More than 10 per cent of the nearly 32 lakh “unmapped” voters listed in the draft rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state have failed to appear for hearings despite receiving notices and have also not sought fresh dates.
Their absence has raised doubts within the Election Commission of India over whether these names will figure in the final voter list and has strengthened concerns that several “ghost voters” may have submitted enumeration forms.
“There have been cases where Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were unable to distribute forms to every household. In some instances, forms meant for multiple residents of a building were handed to one person, while in others they were distributed through political party booth-level agents (BLAs). Since forms were not distributed after physical verification at every home, ‘ghost voters’ may have filled up the enumeration forms. It is possible that these suspected voters have not responded to the hearing notices,” an EC official said.
According to sources in the poll body, around 15 per cent of those who attended SIR hearings failed to submit any of the 13 documents prescribed by the commission. Instead, they produced PAN cards, ration cards, bank passbooks and even property deeds, which do not qualify as valid documents under the SIR process.
To complete the hearings within the stipulated time frame, the commission is engaging another 2,000 micro-observers. February 7 has been set as the deadline for completing the SIR hearing process. At present, the Bengal CEO office has about 4,600 micro-observers; with the additional deployment, the number will rise to around 6,600.
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal is also set to appoint more Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). On average, five new AEROs are planned to be appointed in each Assembly constituency.
A senior official in the state CEO office said notices have been issued to around 2.5 lakh voters with logical discrepancies, apart from those whose data remains unmapped. In all, 94.49 lakh voters have been identified with logical discrepancies.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has launched a dedicated portal for migrant workers to submit documents for their hearings. Those unable to attend in person must upload the required documents online. The portal, launched following a proposal from the state CEO office, can be accessed through voters.eci.gov.in by clicking on “Submit Document Against Notice Issued,” entering the EPIC number and uploading the necessary documents.
