Revised electoral roll published : 23,000 claims rejected

 

COOCH BEHAR, Jan. 21: The revised electoral rolls of all the nine Assembly constituencies in Cooch Behar district were published. Now, the total number of electors is 16,02,280. While 52,158 new claims were admitted the net addition is 42,643 in the revised rolls. The increase of voters is 2.73 percent comparing with the draft electoral rolls of nine constituencies. In the draft rolls that were published in March 2007 the total number of electors was 15,59,637. In Mekhliganj (SC) constituency the increase is 4.33 percent.

 

According to the Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls-2008, 11,227 applications were submitted claiming inclusion in the electoral roll in Sitai constituency. Sitai is a bordering area and very close to the Indo-Bangladesh border. Examining the relevant documents the authorities have rejected 5,788 claims and admitted 5,439 claims only.

 

President of Cooch Behar district unit of BJP, Mr Nityananda Munsi said today that they were complaining of large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh for a long and rejection of so much applications in Sitai proved the allegation. He demanded that the district administration should look into the matter seriously because inclusion of foreigners in the voters' list can change the voting pattern and it is harmful for the country. On the otherhand, a senior government official admitted that many of the applications were rejected in Sitai and other constituencies because the claimants failed to submit adequate proof in support of their claims. These persons may have come from Bangladesh, he suspected.

 

Not only in Sitai, 10,248 applications were submitted in Dinhata that is also a bordering constituency. Here 3,979 claims for inclusion in the electoral roll were rejected. The total number of rejected claims in the nine Assembly constituencies is 22,594 and total number of deletion from the rolls is 9,515. Names of 9,363 dead and shifted voters were stroke off from the voters' list.

 

When asked, the officer-in-charge of election cell, Mr Sanjay Mukherjee said preparation of 98.41 percent of Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) was completed in this district. Photographing of new voters and whose names were mismatched in the electoral rolls and EPIC cards for different reasons will be held from 1 February to 10 February. []