With 16.7 lakh cases, Murshidabad tops the list with the highest number of ‘logical discrepancies’ in the electoral rolls in West Bengal as the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is underway. In fact, districts bordering Bangladesh – North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Uttar Dinajpur and Malda – have all reported high numbers of logical discrepancy cases.
The issue has triggered yet another round of tussle with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) targeting the Election Commission (EC) over the issue. The BJP has, meanwhile, said the figures reflect the high numbers of “illegal infiltrators” in the voters’ list in West Bengal. The border districts have reported violent protests, roadblocks and even vandalism of Block Development Offices during SIR hearings.
Officials said there are five categories of logical discrepancies, including progeny 6 (people with more than six children), father’s name mismatch, age difference with parent 15 years or less, age difference with parent 50 years or more and age difference with grandparent 40 years or less. Those falling in any of the categories are being called for hearings.
Data available with the Chief Electoral Office in West Bengal indicated that Murshidabad has 16,72,123 cases of logical discrepancies, including 9,39,985 progeny 6 cases and 6,03,797 cases that showed a mismatch in the father’s name. Other cases include age difference with parent 15 years or less (32,129 cases), age difference with parent 50 years or more (81,008 cases), and 40 years or less age difference with grandparents (15,217 cases).
South 24 Parganas reported 14,87,048 cases of logical discrepancy, including 76,0982 progeny 6 cases, 5,30,224 cases of father’s name mismatch, 61,356 cases of age difference with parents 15 years, 1,01,480 cases with age difference of 50 years with parents, and 33,078 cases of age difference with grandparents under 40 years.
There are 11,00,783 cases of logical discrepancies in the border district of North 24 Parganas – progeny 6 (4,99,756), father’s name mismatch (4,55,681), 15 years or less age difference with parents (43,680), age difference with parents 50 years or more (68,526), and age difference with grandparents 40 years or less (33,140 cases).
Malda has 8,67,054 total cases of logical discrepancies. This includes 4,66,847 cases of progeny 6 and 3,14,015 cases of father’s name mismatch. Besides, there are 24,191 cases where the age difference with parents is 15 years or less, 52,122 cases of age difference with parents 50 years or more, and 9,899 cases of age difference with grandparents 50 years or more.
In Uttar Dinajpur district, the total of logical discrepancies is 6,98,140, of which 3,28,719 are Progeny 6 cases, 2,09,936 cases involve father’s name mismatch, 15,279 cases show 15 years or less age difference with parents, 52,762 are cases having 50 year or more age difference with parents, and 12,244 cases involve under 40 years of age difference with grandparents.
Though it is not a border district, Howrah too reported high number of logical discrepancies at 6,87,984 cases, including progeny 6 (2,57,024 cases), father’s name mismatch (3,52,718), 15 years or less age gap with parents (27,449), over 50 years age gap with parents (38,981) and 11,813 cases in which age difference with grandparents was 40 years or less.
Birbhum district reported 5,20,566 cases of logical discrepancies – progeny 6 (2,28,342 cases), father’s name mismatch (2,37,912), 15 years or less age gap with parents (21,726), over 50-year age gap with parents (21,140), and under 40 years of age difference with grandparents (11,446).
The number of logical discrepancies reported in other West Bengal districts are as follows: Purba Medinipur (5,21,443 cases), Hooghly (4,79,905), Paschim Medinipur (4,21,292), Purba Bardhaman (4,60,455), Paschim Bardhaman (2,77,745), Coochbehar (3,59,185), Alipurduar (1,99,416), Jalpaiguri (2,19,618), Darjeeling (1,76,187), Kalimpong (41,893), Purulia (2,82,487), Bankura (2,75,052), and Jhargram (72,322).