BALURGHAT, Nov. 6 -- A case of two separate voter identity cards issued in the name of the same person has sparked controversy in Balurghat's Ward 8. The anomaly came to light when a Booth Level Officer (BLO) was collecting forms for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the Mangalpur area.
According to reports, both cards bear the name and address of 65-year-old Arati Chaki, a resident of Mangalpur but the EPIC numbers, guardian names and even the gender entries differ. While one card identifies her as a woman, the other lists her as a man. Her name also appears twice in the voter list. The BLO immediately reported the matter to the Block Development Officer (BDO). Arati Chaki, who works as a domestic cook and lives with her daughter and granddaughter, said she had received two cards-one issued in 2010 and another in 2012. The first one, she said, contained correct information, while the second was issued later citing "corrections", though it bore a different EPIC number and incorrect details. "I was told the first card had mistakes, so I got another one. I use only one card to vote," she said.
The BJP has alleged that the existence of such duplicate cards is proof of "fake voters being protected by the ruling Trinamool Congress".
BJP's BLA-2, Sabyasachi Roy, who first detected the discrepancy, claimed that the matter might have gone unnoticed without the SIR process. District BJP president Swarup Chowdhury added: "This is just one example. Many such cases are surfacing across the district. The SIR process is revealing the truth."
Denying the allegations, local councillor and Trinamool town vice-president Surajit Saha said: "It may be a clerical error. The BJP is trying to create unnecessary panic."
Balurghat BDO Soham Chowdhury confirmed that the matter has been reported and assured that "a thorough inquiry is underway".
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.