In what could be a sample case for the Election Commission of India to take note of before next year’s Assembly elections, about 6,500 voter identity cards were recovered from a garbage dump near the busy Diamond Harbour Road in the southern fringes of Kolkata.
The incident that took place a couple of days ago has prompted the political Opposition to write letters to the ECI drawing its attention towards the matter.
According to sources, most of these ID cards belonged to the residents of Garden Reach, Metibruz, Behala West, Jadavpur and Maheshtala areas and were most likely snatched from the voters during the recently concluded municipal elections which were literally swept by the ruling Trinamool Congress which in many places polled 100-120 percent votes, sources alleged.
“The ID cards are genuine and were snatched by the ruling party goons on the eve of the polls,” said a police officer of the Subaltern Class requesting anonymity, however, his bosses wondered as to “how these can come here. We have to investigate into the whole matter.”
Hundreds of complaints of ID card snatching had been lodged with the State Election Commission during the polls, said former CPI(M) MP Samik lahiri, adding “this is just the tip of the ice-berg. Thousands of similar cases had taken place in Kasba, large parts of Birbhum, Burdwan, Asansol, Nadia, Hooghly, Midnapore. Though complaints were lodged no action was taken as the voters had to return without voting paving the way for a hands-down victory for the ruling party.”
“We want the police and the SEC to find out why so many EPIC cards were thrown in a garbage bin,” left Front said urging the State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kumar Gupta to “inquire the matter and take necessary action” as things could be repeated in the next year’s Assembly elections.
“It is the duty of the EC to conduct smooth elections but the way the last General Elections were reduced nearly to a farce should be an eye-opener for everyone as a large number of voters were simply scared away, asked not to come out of their houses during the polling day.”