EC: No Bengal party appealed against rolls before '24 LS polls
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Kolkata: The Election Commission on Sunday said no political party in Bengal had formally appealed against the final voter list published ahead of the 2024 LS election.
In a move with little precedence and coinciding with the buzz on special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Bengal CEO's note headlined "Electoral rolls are prepared transparently; copies shared with recognised political parties" said during the special summary revision (SSR) 2024, copies of the draft and final electoral rolls were provided to all political parties.
The commission said it received 34.2 lakh claims and objections between the publication of draft and final electoral rolls. The EC added that as per law, appeals could be filed for wrongful additions and deletions but no appeal was filed.
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The statement, coming a week after the publication of electoral rolls of 11 districts following the 2002 SIR, was largely seen as a move to insulate the poll body from political allegations of bias as it tries to purge bogus voters from Bengal's voter rolls.
It also indicated that BJP, vocal on Bangladeshis and Rohingya, did not formally appeal against any inclusion or deletion of voters in 2024.
The EC also put out a detailed annexure to emphasise its point. The annexure indicated that all eight major political parties in Bengal, including TMC, BJP, Congress and CPM, received a copy of draft electoral rolls on Nov 1, 2023. Some collected them later, but it was completed by Dec 2023.
According to EC, North 24 Parganas, with 4.6 lakh claims and objections, topped the list, followed by South 24 Parganas at 4.2 lakh. Among other districts, Hooghly (2.2 lakh) and Nadia (2.1 lakh) followed next. Murshidabad, East Burdwan and East Midnapore also had two-lakh plus additions or deletions.
An EC officer said: "It has come to our notice that a lot of allegations are being made on the 2024 LS polls in Bengal. Political parties have a legal option to formally appeal against wrongful addition or deletion. No party filed any appeal on the final electoral rolls based on which the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were conducted."
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