Kolkata: An error in the draft voter roll released after the Special Intensive Revision exercise in West Bengal has drawn sharp criticism from CPM leader Mohammed Salim. The draft list identifies Mr. Salim, a Muslim and former Member of Parliament, with the Brahmin surname Awasthi. His son, Atish Aziz, also appears with the same surname in the document.
The mistake surfaced after the Election Commission of India published the draft voter roll for the poll bound state. In the voter details shared by Mr. Aziz on social media, the last name section lists Awasthi in Bengali script. The entry mentions Mohammed Salim as his father. The same surname appears against Mr. Salim’s name as well.
Reacting to the error, Mr. Aziz said his father has remained active in public life for decades. He added that if such an error appears in his father’s records, similar mistakes might have affected many other voters. He said he plans to approach the CPM Booth Level Agent to seek correction.
Mr. Salim criticised the Election Commission over the lapse. He said the error shows lack of seriousness in a large scale exercise like the Special Intensive Revision. He alleged poor preparation and inadequate training of officials involved in the process. He also accused senior election authorities of reducing the exercise to a farcical one.
Officials from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal downplayed the issue. They said errors in draft rolls remain subject to correction before publication of the final list in February.
The draft voter roll follows a revision process which saw deletion of 58 lakh names. Of these, 24 lakh voters were marked as dead, 19 lakh as permanently shifted, and 12 lakh as missing. The incident has raised concerns over accuracy in voter data during a critical electoral process.
