Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 07:33:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: News Bureau - CJPsa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CJPsa] BANGLA: 3.16 m ‘illegal’ claimants’ names struck off
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/290799/detSTA08.htm
3.16 m ‘illegal’ claimants’ names struck off
Subhamoy Chatterjee (Calcutta, July 28)
MORE THAN 3.16 million claimants for inclusion in
voters’ lists, suspected to have recorded their names
through dubious means, have been struck off in the
final electoral rolls published by the State’s
election department today.
Announcing the publication of the revised voters’s
lists today, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Jawhar
Sircar said that a thorough scrutiny of the claims had
been vigorously carried out over a period of a month
by 1500-odd officers of the election department as the
draft rolls showed an abnormally high seven per cent
increase in the lists since the last Lok Sabha
election in 1998. The rise was mainly recorded in the
districts bordering Bangladesh.
Mr Sircar said that 1.4 million voters, representing
an increase of 1.85 per cent which was normal, had
been added to the previous rolls of 46.8 million
eligible voters in the State. The revised electoral
rolls had been accepted by all the political parties
which attended the meeting called by Mr Sircar.
The CEO said that for the first time in the country
electoral rolls were published in West Bengal from a
computerised database. The names of all the voters in
each Lok Sabha constituency could be had from the two
CD-ROMs which would be ready within a week. “The
CD-ROMs will remain a permanent reference for all time
to come and can be revised as and when necessary,” he
said.
The CEO, who along with his team of officers
demonstrated the working of the electronic voting
machines (EVM) before the representatives of political
parties, said that there had been no complaints from
the parties with regard to the use of the EVMs in the
polling of three Lok Sabha constituencies in Calcutta.
Incidentally, the machines will be used for the first
time in the State in recording voting in north-east
Calcutta, north-west Calcutta and south Calcutta Lok
Sabha constituencies, the last one being the
traditional seat of Ms Mamata Banerjee.
The CEO said that the EVMs would be used in 3500
polling booths of the three Lok Sabha constituencies
and a reserve of 10 to 20 per cent would also be kept
in the sector offices for emergencies. He said that
the use of the machines would cut down the time on
polling as well as for counting of votes. Since only
single ballot paper would be required for every booth
for voting through the machine, the need to print huge
number of ballot papers would also be eliminated, he
said.
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