Kolkata, Oct. 27 -- Draft electoral rolls and polling station lists triggered a row at the first all-party meeting on KMC poll preparations at Alipore Collectorate on Monday, with opposition parties questioning the administration's approach and protesting the absence of the South 24-Parganas DM. NCPI and DTC skipped the meeting.
The meeting, convened by the South 24-Parganas district administration at the New Administrative Building in Alipore, discussed draft electoral rolls and polling stations for boroughs I to VIII. Opposition leaders alleged that DM Abhishek Tiwari was absent and that the additional district magistrate (elections), who attended in his place, left without responding to their questions. Finalisation of the electoral rolls emerged as a key point of contention ahead of the civic polls.
Congress representative Ashutosh Chattopadhyay alleged that the draft rolls were being published before the formal process of disposing of claims and objections had been completed. MAITC representative Baiswanor Chattopadhyay demanded that the 2024 electoral rolls be used instead of the post-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) lists, alleging that the draft had been prepared to favour the ruling party.
CPI(M) leader Subrata Dutta questioned the exercise, claiming that around 1.17 lakh voters had been deleted from the KMC area. He demanded that eligible voters whose names had been omitted be included before the rolls were finalised.
BJP representative Chittaranjan De rejected the objections, arguing that the meeting had proceeded according to its agenda. He also questioned why opposition representatives had signed and accepted the draft lists if they had reservations about them.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.