A surprising report came from West Bengal, where names of more than 1 crore 90 lakh voters have been kept under ‘suspicious’ category in the draft electoral rolls.
The draft rolls show, total number of voters is nearly 7.66 crore, out of which names of 1.9 crore voters have been kept in ‘suspicious’ category. This is quite a large figure. It is being alleged that many of these 1.9 crore voters could be infiltrators from Bangladesh.
Analysis of most of the filled enumeration forms has thrown up surprises.
The age difference between father and son is less than 15 years in several lakh cases, while in more than 8 lakh 77 thousand forms, the difference between father’s and son’s age is more than 50 years.
The Election Commission has received nearly 12 lakh forms in which the age difference of father and children is less than 15 years.
Since marriageable age in India is 18 years, questions are being raised how there can be 15-year difference in the ages of father and children.
In more than 3 lakh forms, the age difference between grandparents and grandchildren is less than 40 years.
Data analysis shows, nearly 85 lakh forms have been received where the name of father is either missing or it does not match with records.
More than 24 lakh forms have been received which show the number of offsprings of a man to be more than six.
Nearly 20 lakh people, in the age group 45+ years, have applied for inclusion of names in electoral rolls for the first time. All these cases have been put in ‘suspicious’ category.
The Election Commission is now combing all such cases district-wise to check whether there was any error in data entry so that these could be rectified. It will also check whether they are fake voters or infiltrators who can be identified.
Notices have been sent to 1.9 crore people, whose names have been kept in ‘suspicious’ category. They will be allowed to state their case before the competent authorities.
India TV reporters went to meet some of these people, and the truth that tumbled out was surprising.
In Bardhaman district, our reporter met a family, whose enumeration forms show the age of father as 63 years, while the ages of his two sons were shown as 59 and 58 years.
The family members told our reporter that names of two persons shown as sons in the enumeration forms were actually Bangladeshis.
In Sheetal village of Bardhaman district, Saroj Majhi’s age was shown as 63 years, while his two sons Laxmi Majhi and Sagar Majhi’s ages were shown as 59 and 58 years respectively.
Saroj Majhi told our reporter that the names of his two sons are Sujit and Anoop. He however said, Laxmi and Sagar Majhi live in his village, but they are not his sons. He said, he was not quite literate and was unable to tell how Laxmi and Sagar have been shown as his sons in enumeration forms.
When India TV reporter met Sagar Majhi, the truth came out.
Sagar admitted that he had come from Bangladesh in search of job, when Left Front was ruling West Bengal. He said, CPI-M workers helped him in getting a voter card, and they inserted the name of Saroj Majhi as his father.
Sagar’s wife Lipika Majhi confirmed that they came from Bangladesh. She said, Saroj Majhi is our “affectionate” father-in-law and we inserted his name as our father.
Lipika said, they left Bangladesh because of atrocities on Hindus and local leaders in West Bengal helped them in settling here.
Now that Bangladeshi infiltrators have been detected in the draft electoral rolls, the ruling Trinamool Congress is naturally worried.
More than 58 lakh names have been deleted from electoral rolls. The Election Commission has said, out of them, more than 24 lakh voters are dead, nearly 20 lakh are those who have settled in other states, more than 1.38 lakh are those who have enrolled in more than two places, and no whereabouts are known about nearly 12 lakh voters.
North and South 24 Pargana are the two districts, where nearly 8 lakh voters have been deleted in each.
Some errors have been noticed during the SIR process.
Sukdeb Ruproy of New Alipore in Kolkata claimed that his name was there in the 2002 electoral roll, but he did not get the enumeration form this time. The local BLO told him, his name has been put in ‘dead’ category. Surprisingly, a form was sent to his mother, who had died in 2024.
Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee alleged that names of many TMC leaders and workers, who are alive, have been shown in ‘dead’ category.
In Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s constituency Bhowanipore in Kolkata, names of 44,787 electors were deleted. Mamata has alerted TMC booth level agents to go to each home and provide legal help to those whose names have been deleted.
In Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s Nandigram constituency, where he defeated Mamata Banerjee last time, more than 10 thousand names have been deleted. BJP has blamed Mamata Banerjee for these deletions.
There is no gainsaying the fact a large number of people from Bangladesh have settled in West Bengal. This infiltration has been continuing for the last five decades. It is a known fact. When the Left Front was ruling West Bengal, Left leaders used to help these infiltrators to settle in West Bengal and even provide them with ration cards and voter cards. This has been continuing even during Trinamool Congress rule.
People in West Bengal knew infiltrators from Bangladesh were settling in their state, but nobody was speaking out. During UPA rule in 2006, the then Home Minister had admitted in Parliament that the number of Bangladeshis settled in India is more than two crore. But nobody spoke about how to identify them and send them back to Bangladesh. With Special Intensive Revision, the realities are now staring in the face. This will also affect political equations in West Bengal. This is the reason why Mamata Banerjee is worried about SIR.

SIR problems surface in UP

SIR process in Uttar Pradesh has also caused problems, in a different manner.
The state administration is trying to ensure that no eligible voter is left out. For example, in Ghaziabad, nearly 35 per cent enumeration forms are yet to be submitted.
Out of these, 15 per cent voters have either shifted to other places while there is no trace about another 15 per cent of voters.
A large number of voters in Ghaziabad and Noida changed residence because of jobs. Those living on rent in residential societies leave the state once they change jobs.
The SIR nodal officer of Ghaziabad district, Additional DM Saurabh Bhatt said, Ghaziabad, being an industrial area, has a large number of factory workers. Many of them work in factories, live in shanties and then migrate once they switch jobs. Most of them have not filled up their enumeration forms. This is the reason why there is decline in the number of those submitting their forms, he said.
As far as I know, in Uttar Pradesh, there are Muslim dominated localities where people have submitted forms in large numbers. They have also applied for inclusion of their names in electoral rolls.
Muslim organisations are proactive in ensuring that nobody’s name is not left out. Even appeals were issued from mosques asking people to fill up the forms.
On the contrary, in Hindu dominated localities, people have not paid much attention to SIR. Many of them are not bothered whether their names have been deleted or not.
BJP leaders are now worried how to set this right. Two days ago, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath confirmed this, when he asked the party workers to focus on this, because nearly 90 per cent of those, whose names have not been submitted, are supposed to be BJP supporters.
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