Eye on phantom voters, Bengal CEO seeks reports on entries over past yr
Times of India | 30 July 2025
Kolkata: In a bid to pin down fictitious voters, Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Monday asked DMs to submit reports on inclusion of names in the state's voters' list over the past year. DMs, who also serve as district electoral officers (DEOs), are required to submit reports by Aug 14.
DEOs have been asked to conduct sample surveys of the disposal of Form 6 — used to include names on voters' lists — by setting up teams of senior officials. These officials are expected to check and report how electoral registration officers (EROs) are disposing of Form 6 requests.
In his letter to DEOs, the CEO said a number of polling officials were not following provisions of the Registration of Electors Act, 1960.
The CEO's letter coincided with the EC publishing the 2002 special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal, tabling voter data of 11 districts across 109 assembly segments.
Two EROs, of Moyna and Baruipur, are already under CEO's scanner because they were unable to offer clear replies when questioned about anomalies in the voters' lists in these areas, sources said.
The CEO's letter read: "Sample checking of less than 1% of Form 6 disposal by EROs during continuous updation revealed that two EROs accepted a considerable number of Form 6 for fictitious voters.
""In all these cases, the BLOs' verification was dispensed with, without any apparent urgency/requirement, and similar documents were captured for a large number of application forms and their verification reports," the letter read further.
Both EROs admitted to have provided user access to other officials and even data entry operators who thereafter disposed of the Form 6 applications, according to the CEO's letter.
Sources said the CEO was contemplating action against the two as well as other officials found involved in such malpractices.
An EC official said if any ERO, assistant ERO, or another person, while performing the official duty of preparation, revision, or correction of an electoral roll or the inclusion or exclusion of any entry, is found guilty of any act or omission in breach of such official duty, they shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than three months, which might extend to two years, along with fine.
It has come to EC's notice that there was a rise in voter enrolments in the 25-40 age-group in border districts of North and South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Malda and Murshidabad. Ideally, the enrolments should be high in the 18-21 age-group.