Kolkata: With the SIR exercise entering the last lap, the EC has identified 15.5 lakh deceased electors in Bengal, which is 2.3% of 6.6 crore enumeration forms digitized till 12 noon on Friday. BLOs have also so far identified 8.9 lakh electors, who have been permanently shifted and 58,164 duplicate voters.
"Till 12 pm on Friday, out of 6.6 crore digitized forms, 27.7 lakh forms are ‘uncollectable' from deceased, duplicate, permanently shifted and untraceable voters in Bengal. Of these 27.7 lakh, 15.5 lakh forms belong to deceased electors. Number of identified untraceable, permanently shifted and duplicate electors are 2.6 lakh, 8.9 lakh and 58,164 respectively so far," a senior EC official said.
‘Uncollectable' forms mean the enumeration forms which are not returned to the BLOs with applicants' signatures on them. During collection, BLOs collected these ‘uncollectable' forms from their family members, which they later uploaded in the app under these four categories.
Names of voters, whose forms won't be returned to BLOs, will not be included in the draft SIR list.
"After publication of the draft list, we will publish separate lists for deceased, duplicate, permanently shifted and untraceable electors. These names will not be included in the draft roll," the official added.
Asked about a very small percentage of deceased voters so far identified, another EC official said, "For last 8-10 years, during preparation of the electoral roll, we deleted 6-8 lakh deceased voters' names every year. So, this low percentage is not unusual."
While 87.9% enumeration forms have been digitised on Friday afternoon, Kolkata still lags behind all the districts. Till Friday 12 noon, 61% forms have been digitised in Kolkata North. For Kolkata South, the figure is 65%.
Several BLOs across the state complained that during digitisation of enumeration forms of a few applicants, they received a message that some other BLO has already linked the data with some other individuals elsewhere on the BLO App.
A senior official at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bengal, said, "For these particular cases, an instruction has been sent that the BLO who found the problem should call the BLO who linked it. It may happen for a person, who has two sons staying at different places. In that case, his name could be linked in both the places. If a BLO links it intentionally, he/she will face action."
Meanwhile, two EC officials will reach Kolkata on Monday and will be working under the supervision of CEO, West Bengal till completion of the exercise.