Kolkata, 04 December (H.S.): The Election Commission has ordered a fresh scrutiny of three polling booths in West Bengal after the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) detected an unusual pattern — not a single ‘self’ voter was found in any of them. Under SIR rules, a voter is classified as ‘self’ if their name appeared in the 2002 electoral roll. If the names of their parents appeared in the 2002 list, the voter is categorized as ‘progeny’.

Considering the scenario nearly impossible, the Commission has directed a complete re-examination of all three booths. According to officials in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, every voter in these booths has been marked as ‘progeny’, with none falling under the ‘self’ category.

The first case involves Part No. 110 of the Dinhata Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district, where all 782 voters were listed as ‘progeny’. The second case pertains to Part No. 53 of the Pandua Assembly constituency in Hooghly district, where all 668 voters were similarly classified. The third instance is from Part No. 48 of the Kultali Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas, where none of the 768 voters qualified as ‘self’.

Under SIR guidelines, voters whose own names or whose parents’ names appear in the 2002 electoral roll are considered valid and are exempt from submitting any documents. The Commission, however, found it inconsistent that an entire booth would have zero ‘self’ voters.

Hence, it has ordered a renewed investigation into the three booths. Sources in the CEO’s office said that if the review reveals negligence or wrongdoing by booth-level officers, electoral registration officers, or assistant registration officers, strict action will follow.

Meanwhile, another significant shift has emerged. The number of booths that reportedly had no deceased, duplicate, or shifted voters has dropped sharply. While the count on Monday evening stood at 2,208, it fell to 480 by Tuesday evening and further dwindled to just 29 by Wednesday evening.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh