An association of West Bengal government officers has expressed objections to what it described as “suo motu system-driven deletion” of voters from the draft electoral rolls under the ongoing revision of voter rolls in the state, PTI reported.
In a letter to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal, the West Bengal Civil Service Executive Officers’ Association alleged that the exercise bypassed the statutory role of electoral registration officers.
The association flagged that a large number of electors whose enumeration forms had not been returned – on account of reasons such as death, migration, absence or duplication – were deleted from the draft rolls on the day of their publication.
The Election Commission published the state’s draft electoral rolls, in which more than 58 lakh voters were removed, on December 16.
Referring to existing legal provisions, the association said the law allows for a voter’s name to be deleted only on specific grounds, such as when “the person concerned has ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency or that he is otherwise not entitled to be registered in the electoral roll of that constituency”.
It added that in all such cases, the concerned electoral registration officers must provide the voter a reasonable opportunity of being heard, as required under Section 22 of…
Source: West Bengal government officers’ body flags voter deletions after electoral roll revision
