Bengal's Non-Searchable 2002 Voter List Hinders Revision Process

“No genuine voter’s name will be left out of the electoral list. Tea garden residents staying outside the state will not face any problems. We have developed a QR code system, which allows anyone to share family details directly with the Election Commission.”

“We welcome the initiative, but many workers may find the QR code difficult to use. We will set up help desks in every tea garden starting Monday to assist them.”

“People were ready to fill out the forms, but BLOs could not distribute them. We don’t know when adequate forms will reach the district.”

“Nobody should panic. We have already appealed to the Election Commission not to delete the names of genuine voters, particularly the migrated Hindu people, even if their or their parents’ names are not found in the 2002 list. Since citizenship application is the only solution to stay on the roll, we have requested the CEO not to harass such people and to keep them in the voters' list based on their application for citizenship.”

“This is a complicated process. We are facing the same question in at least two houses out of five where we went to distribute the enumeration forms in the first two days. We are trying to help the voters, but it appears to be a problem as many of the voters can’t remember the name of the booth where they had voted in the 2004 general election.”

“I used to cast my vote in the Ruppur gram panchayat office booth in the last few elections. But I could not find my name in the rolls of the booth in 2002. Later, I was told by a political leader that the venue I had cast my vote in 2002 — Visva Bharati Khadi and Gramodyog Bhavan — does not exist anymore. All the voters of the booth have been clubbed into the booth where I cast my vote for the past few elections.”

“Now, he could not find the details of his father in the 2002 list, as he did not know the name of the booth where his father had cast his vote in the 2004 elections, since he died a few years ago.”

“We had contacted the EC’s IT wings and informed them of the problem, but we were told that as the rolls of Bengal were not digitised, it would take at least 2 to 3 months to convert them to a format where electors could search their details by putting his or her name or EPIC number. We are still in search of an agency which can make the lists searchable in a short period.”

“If that was done on time, the electors of Bengal would not have to run to the camps of the political parties to get to know whether they or their parents figure in the 2002 list.”