Trinamool leaders reached the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi at 11 am to express their concern. For this, a delegation led by Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien is meeting the commission.
New Delhi: Protests against major changes in the voter list have intensified in Bengal. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leaders are directly meeting the Election Commission to express their concerns. Trinamool leaders reached the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi at 11 am. For this, a delegation led by Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien met the Commission. Mamata Banerjee had earlier written a letter to stop SIR activities in Bengal, but the Commission did not respond. Only after this the team of leaders decided to go to the Commission headquarters and meet.
Crisis on 26 lakh voters
The Election Commission has found that the names of about 26 lakh people in the current voter list of West Bengal do not match with the 2002 list. The problem came to light when the new list was matched with the lists made after 2006 under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The Commission said that till Wednesday afternoon, more than six crore counting forms have been digitalized in the state. Now these digital forms will be mapped. Initial estimates are that when these are compared with old SIR records, the number of errors may increase further. Mapping means matching the new voter list with the SIR records last created in 2002. This year, the investigation has become more stringent by including voter lists of other states in the mapping. However, Commission officials have clarified that finding these irregularities does not mean that these names will be removed from the final voter list. A final decision will be taken only after further investigation.
SIR deadline will not change in Kerala
Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala has said that there will be no change in the deadline of SIR in the state. Ratan Khelkar made it clear that the draft list will be released only on December 9. He also informed that the lack of training of BLOs will be addressed and NORKA will be asked again to convene a meeting to address the concerns of migrant voters.