Malda, 16 December (H.S.): Despite allegations of illegally entering India from Bangladesh and changing her name, the name of Lovely Khatun, the former panchayat head of Rashidabad in Harishchandrapur of Malda district, has not been removed from the draft voter list.

Lovely's real name is Nasia Sheikh. Allegedly, she illegally entered India without a passport and then erased her old identity. She also changed her father's name. Her voter card was issued in India in 2015. Her birth certificate was issued in 2018.

As per information, Nasia's father's name in the documents is Sheikh Mustafa. However, it is alleged that Lovely's father's name is not Sheikh Mustafa; his real name is Jamil Biswas. A case was also filed in the Calcutta High Court. Later, Lovely Khatun was removed from the post of panchayat head.

After the FIR was registered, there were speculations about whether Lovely Khatun would fill out the enumeration form or not. It was alleged that the enumeration form was submitted under pressure on the BLO (Booth Level Officer). And after the draft list was released on Tuesday, it was seen that Lovely Khatun's name had not been removed. More than two lakh names have been removed in Malda district. About 24,000 names have also been removed in English Bazar. Many names have also been removed in English Bazar and Puratan Malda municipal areas. In fact, several families have suddenly disappeared from some areas.

After the draft voter list was released on Tuesday, it is being claimed that the names of genuine voters have also been removed due to some error. And this raises the question: why was Lovely Khatun's name not removed despite all the evidence of her being Bangladeshi?

The BLO of that booth, Mujibur Rahman, said that her (Lovely Khatun's) form was submitted. The names of 34 people have been removed from my booth. Lovely Khatun's name was not removed. I only received the form. She filled out the form and submitted it. I was not instructed to verify the documents. They have accepted what was submitted in the form. Everyone's forms have been collected in the same way. The BLO (Booth Level Officer) says that only the government knows what will happen now.

The commission says that even if a name is not in the draft voter list, an application can be submitted to add the name by showing the necessary documents. Similarly, having a name in the draft voter list does not guarantee that the name will be in the final list. If any discrepancies are found in the form, the concerned person may be called for a hearing. In that case, all the documents will be examined during the hearing. And if the documents are not found to be correct, the name will not be included in the final voter list. It remains to be seen what happens in Lovely Khatun's case.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey