Father 15 Years Older Than Son, Grandpa Below 40: EC Could Recheck Over 1 Crore Bengal SIR Forms

The Election Commission of India is preparing to recheck more than one crore names in the electoral rolls of West Bengal after the ongoing pan-India special intensive revision exercise uncovered “mysterious data”.

According to sources in the Election Commission (EC), more than 1 crore names may have to be rechecked, including fathers’ names of 85 lakh voters due to “mismatch”. They said some of the voter data revealed that approximately 13.5 lakh voters are listed so that the same individual’s name appears both as the father and the mother.

Elaborating why the EC may have to check some voter data again, the sources said some entries include the father’s name for one family member as mistakenly placed in the mother’s field for another. There is also

data that shows that for 11,95,230 voters, the father is recorded as being less than 15 years older than the son while, for at least 3,29,152 voters, the listed grandfather is less than 40 years older. At least 24,21,133 cases showing a single person appears to have six children or more, they added.

This is the first phase of the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal. This “mysterious data” was uncovered during the cross-checking process.

The EC has digitised all application forms and said voters will be called for hearings to verify their records. The compiled data will be shared with district election officers and block-level officials across the state, who will carry out house-to-house visits. Voters will also have the opportunity to verify data during the ‘claims and objections’ stage.

According to the latest EC data, 57,52,207 voters in the state have been categorised as uncollectible or untraceable in their enumeration forms. Of them, 24,14,750 are deceased, over 11,57,000 could not be located, 19,89,914 have moved to other addresses, 13,05,627 are listed at multiple locations, and more than 11,57,000 forms could not be collected for various reasons.

On Friday (December 12), the poll body also released constituency-wise data on deletions from the electoral rolls, a day after the deadline for submitting enumeration forms. The draft electoral rolls for West Bengal is scheduled to be published on December 16.