BJP alleges fake voter entries in West Bengal, urges EC to act

The BJP on Wednesday alleged that “fake and dubious” names are being included in the electoral rolls in West Bengal at the behest of the ruling TMC and urged the Election Commission to take action.

Approaching the Election Commission (EC) here, a BJP delegation also requested the poll panel to assure the Matua community members and those of other “Hindu groups”, including Buddhists and Jains, that their names will be included in the voters' lists during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state.

The BJP delegation, which met the EC officials with a memorandum of demands, comprised the party’s co-incharge for West Bengal Amit Malviya, state unit president Samik Bhattacharya and MP Khagen Murmu.

After the meeting, Malviya told reporters, “We highlighted the irregularities that have been observed in the first phase of the SIR so far. We brought to the Election Commission’s notice that TMC workers and the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) herself are intimidating the BLOs into accepting fraudulent and fake entries.”

He said the BJP delegation also brought to the notice of the EC that “several dead voters” and continue to be included in the electoral rolls under pressure from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers and the “lower-level bureaucracy”.

“We also gave examples to the Election Commission where artificial family linkages have been established,” to include dubious voters in the list, Malviya said.

He claimed that “dead or shifted (migrated)” voters are being falsely shown as parents or relatives of new applicants to create “fraudulent linkages”. “The person’s father-in-law is also shown as the father for the purpose of SIR. We also highlighted how in several instances the age of the mother is less than the age of the son,” he said, adding, “This cannot be possible unless there is wide-scale rigging that is being attempted in West Bengal.”

Malviya said the BJP delegation urged the EC to use technology including AI and data management tools, “to identify and flag such fraudulent entries”. The delegation also suggested that UIDAI (Aadhar) data and West Bengal health ministry data be used to establish the identity of those who have died. “We have requested that the Matua community and several other Hindu groups are assured by the EC that they would not be penalised in the process because they have come to India and sought refuge because of the religious persecution in Bangladesh,” he said.

“This includes Hindus, Jain, Sikhs and Buddhists. It is important that they are made to feel comfortable and assured that they will be included in the voter rolls,” he added.

Malviya said the BJP delegation also brought to the notice of the EC several media reports on “large numbers of illegal voters” in West Bengal and urged the panel to take measures to detect such names, instead of merely going by the entries sent by the block-level officers (BLOs).

“We have requested the EC to appoint independent electoral roll officers at the district level and a senior person at the state level so that the process of voter roll creation is clean and proper,” he added.

The BJP delegation also requested the EC to look into the people who have been appointed as BLOs in West Bengal, Malviya said, alleging that several contract workers who owe their allegiance to the TMC have been appointed as the BLOs.

“We have indicated to the election commission that several officials appointed as the AEROs and EROs are below the rank of sub-divisional officer which is a violation. These people are amenable to political pressure and will end up doing what the TMC wants them to do,” the BJP leader said.

Malviya said that the BJP delegation also conveyed to the EC that if the BLOs are feeling overworked as the West Bengal chief minister claims, then she is responsible for it.

“The West Bengal Government has not approved Rs 18,000 that was to be given to the BLOs as part of the (SIR) exercise. We also apprised the Election Commission that the data entry operators who would have helped BLOs with this exercise have not been appointed,” he said.

“In fact, the TMC is using a political agency for data entry. This must be completely unacceptable to the sanctity of the process,” he added.