Kolkata: The Election Commission of India is set to reverify over one crore names in West Bengal’s electoral rolls following the ongoing pan-India special intensive revision exercise, which flagged “mysterious data.”
Sources within the EC revealed that more than one crore entries may require rechecking, including the fathers’ names of around 85 lakh voters, due to inconsistencies. They added that in some cases, approximately 13.5 lakh voters were recorded in a way that the same individual is listed as both the father and the mother.
Explaining the need for a recheck, EC sources said that in some entries, a father’s name for one family member has been mistakenly entered in the mother’s field for another. The data also shows that for 11,95,230 voters, the father is recorded as being less than 15 years older than the child, while for at least 3,29,152 voters, the listed grandfather is recorded as being less than 40 years older. Additionally, there are at least 24,21,133 cases where a single individual appears to have six or more children.
This marks the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal, during which the “mysterious data” came to light through the cross-checking process.
The Election Commission has digitised all application forms and stated that voters will be called for hearings to verify their records. The compiled data will be shared with district election officers and block-level officials across the state, who will conduct house-to-house visits. Voters will also have the chance to verify their information during the ‘claims and objections’ stage.
According to the latest Election Commission data, 57,52,207 voters in West Bengal have been classified as uncollectible or untraceable in their enumeration forms. Among them, 24,14,750 are deceased, over 11,57,000 could not be located, 19,89,914 have shifted to other addresses, 13,05,627 are listed at multiple locations, and more than 11,57,000 forms could not be collected for various reasons.
On December 12, the poll body also released constituency-wise data on deletions from the electoral rolls, a day after the deadline for submitting enumeration forms. The draft electoral rolls for West Bengal are scheduled to be published on December 16.
