Kolkata: A recent study has found that Muslim voters form a large share of those flagged under the “logical discrepancy” category during the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls in two key south Kolkata constituencies.
The research, conducted by Sabar Institute, examined data from Bhowanipore and Ballygunge. In Bhowanipore, 7,846 of the 15,145 voters marked under “logical discrepancy” are Muslims. This equals about 52 percent. In Ballygunge, 23,256 of the 30,008 voters in the same category belong to the Muslim community, nearly 78 percent.
Researchers compared these figures with other categories. In Bhowanipore, Muslims account for 22.7 percent of voters marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate. They form about 26 percent of unmapped voters. These numbers align with their estimated 20 percent population share in the constituency, based on the 2011 Census. The sharp rise to 52 percent under “logical discrepancy” drew attention.
In Ballygunge, Muslims make up about 44 percent of absent, shifted, dead or duplicate voters and 42 percent of unmapped voters. Their estimated population share stands near 50 percent. The higher 78 percent figure under “logical discrepancy” stands out.
Election Commission officials rejected claims of bias. An official stated that electoral rolls do not record religion and no religion wise data exists.
Political reactions followed. Analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay questioned the design of the software used in the revision. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused BJP of targeting Muslim majority areas through voter list changes.
The findings have led to calls for an audit of the software driven filter to ensure fair scrutiny.
