KOLKATA: The SIR draft roll to be published by Election Commission on Dec 16 will see every third voter getting deleted in two city assembly constituencies — Jorasanko and Chowringhee. For 11 other assembly segments in the state, 9 of which are in Kolkata, every fifth voter will go missing from the list.
Chowringhee, Jorasanko To Lose Every 3rd
According to data released by EC after the conclusion of enumerations on Dec 11, total voter deletions in the state due to death, shifting, duplication and untraceability stood at 58.1 lakh, which is roughly 7.6% of Bengal’s 7.6-crore electorate. Addition of new voters after Dec 16 will offset some of the shortfall but not all. Officials said around 18.9 lakh new applications for EPIC are pending with them and will be taken up for processing only after the draft roll is published.Assembly segments with high deletions share a common feature — they have a large number of untraceable and shifted voters. Jorasanko assembly segment’s 1.9-lakh strong voter list will shrink by a massive 36.8%, the highest in Bengal. Among the 72,900 voters to be deleted here, 37,193 could not be traced and 16,364 have shifted elsewhere.Similarly, Chowringhee assembly segment will lose 35.4% of its 2.1-lakh electorate, the second highest in Bengal. Among the 74,553 Chowringhee voters to be axed from the electoral roll, 35,042 are untraceable and 25,053 have shifted elsewhere.The pattern gets repeated in other south Kolkata assembly segments. Kolkata Port’s voter list will be trimmed by 26.2% after 63,730 deletions; the seat has reported 18,987 untraceable voters and 21,011 shifted voters. Ballygunge will lose 25.5% of its voters after 65,171 deletions; it has 24,101 untraceable and 19,921 shifted voters. CM Mamata Banerjee’s constituency, Bhowanipore, will see its 2-lakh voter list shrink by 21.7% while Rash Behari will drop 21% of its 2 lakh voters for similar reasons.Almost all Bengal assembly segments that will lose over 20% of its voters are in and around Kolkata — Kashipur-Belgachcia’s (24%), Shyampukur (24%), Beliaghata (22.4%), Entally (20.5%), Maniktala (20%). Rounding off this list are Howrah North with 27% and Bhatpara with 20.4% deletions.Several other assembly belts like Bhangor, Kasba, Howrah South, Howrah Central, Sreerampore and Kharagpur Town are also likely to see high deletions, but the count will remain below 20%.TOI had reported several booth-level officers (BLOs) in central and north Kolkata flagging the issue of missing voters during the enumeration process. A section of these BLOs said they were informed that many of these untraceable voters are migrants from Bihar who have decided to remain voters in their home state and not in Bengal.Economist Aviroop Sarkar, however, said it is too presumptive to conclude that the Bihar SIR and polls have resulted in a large number of untraceable and shifted voters in Kolkata assembly segments. Demographically, Jorasanko, Chowringhee and even Ballygunge have changed now. To only pin down the reason to Bihar migrants – which I admit is substantial in these belts – will not be correct, in the absence of detailed data,” he said.Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said, “The top of the mind reason appears to be reverse economic migration because Jorasanko and Chowringhee are usual trading hubs in Kolkata. Also due to this reason, the Bihar SIR and elections could also have been a possible factor.”
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