KOLKATA: Sheikh Rajesh Ali is a voter from East Midnapore district of West Bengal. His father’s name has been noted as Bhubanchandra Bera, mother Pushparani Bera, and wife Sumitrarani Bera. The most startling fact is that there are no such substantiating documents in connection with Rajesh Ali’s enumeration form.
In yet another instance of logical discrepancies in the voter list following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, voter Sheikh Rajesh Ali was mistakenly registered as son of one Bhubanchandra Bera in Paschim Panskura assembly constituency, who is also reportedly the father of one Bijoykrishna Bera. No documents connect Bhubanchandra Bera to either of his 'sons'.
The concerned Special Roll Observer (SRO) appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sent the matter to Nirvachan Sadan, ECI headquarters in Delhi, on Wednesday seeking its intervention.
SIR hearings across the state had been completed on 14 February and verification of documents will have to wrapped up by 21 February, 10 days before the final electoral rolls are published on 28 February.
The SRO has reportedly raised questions on how the enumeration form with a blatant error uploaded in the ECI software, and how the concerned Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) certify the form terming ‘found ok.’
In another interesting case, the birth certificate of voter Hafizur Rahaman Haldar of South 24 was issued by the state health department on 23 August in 1990, two months before he was born on 30 November same year.
The ECI had summoned around 1.5 crore voters, including 1.20 crore electors belonging to the logical discrepancy category, for SIR hearings while the rests are ‘unmapped’ people those who had no link with the rolls of the last SIR conducted in 2002 in the state.
Voters belonging in logical discrepancy group are those people who are figured in the last SIR rolls but with different mistakes in their spellings of names, surnames and other discrepancies.
Sources in the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal do not have any idea about how to solve these cases of serious discrepancies found during the super checking of documents of voters who have served to appear at hearing centres.
More than 60 lakh cases are still awaiting verifications within the deadline 21 February set by the Commission.