Potential Hearing for 2 Crore Voters in West Bengal

Kolkata: The Election Commission (EC) of India has announced that around 30 lakh voters in West Bengal will be required to attend hearings following discrepancies in their enumeration forms. These voters have not been mapped to the most recent State Information Register (SIR) roll for any state or union territory, including West Bengal's 2002 SIR roll. Additionally, nearly 1.6 crore applicants, whose SIR forms contain errors and illogical claims, may also face similar hearings after December 16.

As per the latest data released by the EC, a total of 30,59,273 voters in West Bengal are currently unmapped in relation to the last SIR roll. The assembly constituencies of Kolkata Port, Bhabanipur, Rashbehari, and Ballygunge, all part of the Kolkata South parliamentary constituency, report the highest percentage of unmapped voters at 11.5%. Following these areas, Kolkata North and Darjeeling parliamentary constituencies have 9.2% and 9% unmapped voters, respectively.

Among the border regions, North 24 Parganas has the highest rate of unmapped voters, accounting for 8.8% of its total 83 lakh voters. In the neighbouring South 24 Parganas, the percentages are 3.8%, 6.1%, 2%, 1.8%, 5.4%, and 2.6% for the districts of Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda, South Dinajpur, and Cooch Behar.

A senior official from the EC noted, "This 4% of Bengal's total voters will have to appear in a hearing before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO). The number may increase as applicants listing relatives other than their parents in their forms will also be summoned for hearings. A significant portion of those with progeny mapping may also receive notices."

Experts suggest that a notably high percentage of unmapped electors will likely be found in the districts bordering Bangladesh. However, urban areas such as Kolkata also display substantial numbers of unmapped voters.

In North Bengal, specific assembly constituencies such as Darjeeling, Matigara-Naxalbari, and Siliguri have 12.2%, 11%, and 9.4% unmapped voters, respectively. The Dabgram-Fulbari assembly segment in Jalpaiguri exhibits the highest unmapped percentage, nearing 10%. Conversely, in Cooch Behar, no assembly constituency reports an unmapped percentage exceeding 4%. In South Dinajpur, the Tapan constituency leads with 8.7% of its voters unmapped, while Malda's Gazole assembly constituency has 4.4%, the highest among the district’s twelve seats.

In Murshidabad, Kandi assembly constituency has the highest rate of unmapped voters at 8.9%. Meanwhile, Nadia's Kalyani constituency reports a significant 11.9% unmapped voter rate. In North 24 Parganas, several assembly segments such as Bagda, Bangaon Uttar, Bangaon Dakshin, and Gaighata display high percentages of unmapped voters, ranging from 10.8% to 14.5%. In Bidhannagar and Dum Dum, the numbers stand at 14.5% and 13.2%, respectively. Among the 31 assembly constituencies under the district electoral officer's purview in South 24 Parganas, Tollygunge shows a notable 10.8% of unmapped voters. In both Kolkata South and Kolkata North, Rashbehari and Chowringhee report 13% and 10.7% unmapped voters respectively, with Bally assembly constituency recording the highest at 17.8%.