Kolkata, 18 February (H.S.) : During the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list in West Bengal, a special roll observer has flagged an unusual case where a Muslim youth was recorded as the son of a senior Hindu citizen in the “progeny mapping” section.

The anomaly came to light during the “super checking” phase of the draft voters’ list, published in December last year. The case pertains to the Panskura (West) Assembly constituency in West Midnapore district, where Muslim voter Sheikh Rais Ali has been linked as the son of Hindu voter Bhuban Chandra Bera.

Sources from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said the special roll observer questioned how the linking was approved by the concerned Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) without conducting a proper background verification of both voters.

The observer reportedly decided to report the matter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi for further action.

A CEO office source said, “Father and son belonging to different religions is not impossible. However, when such a case surfaced during the revision process, a thorough background check should have been conducted before approving the linkage. In this instance, that verification was not done.”

This is not the first instance of anomalous family-tree data appearing in the course of progeny mapping. Earlier, a voter aged 65 was recorded as having two sons aged 60 and 59, implying he had fathered children at the age of five. Such irregularities have previously raised concerns about the accuracy and verification protocols in the SIR process.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh