In a significant development in West Bengal's ongoing Special Summary Revision of the electoral roll, a staggering 58,17,851 (over 58 lakh) house-to-house enumeration forms have been declared "uncollectable" by the Election Commission of India. This massive figure represents voters across the state whose physical verification could not be completed, leading to the provisional removal of their names from the draft electoral list.
The state, with a total electorate base of 7,66,86,658, is in the final stages of digitising the data collected from the intensive revision drive. As of the latest official update, 7,06,98,649 forms—constituting 92.41% of the total—have been successfully digitised. The Commission has reported receiving voter information for a near-complete 99.99% of the electorate, highlighting a vast data collection effort now bottlenecked at the digitisation and verification stage.
A district-wise breakdown reveals a stark contrast between rural and urban progress:
High Performers: Several districts have shown impressive digitisation efficiency, with East Midnapore (96%), Bankura, Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum, and South Dinajpur all recording between 93% to 96% completion.
Urban Laggards: In sharp contrast, the state's capital is struggling. North Kolkata has digitised only 74.07% of its forms, while South Kolkata fares marginally better at 76.17%. This puts the metropolitan heart of the state significantly behind its rural counterparts.
According to sources within the election machinery, the slow progress in specific areas, particularly Kolkata, can be attributed to a confluence of factors:
Alleged Non-Cooperation: Reports indicate resistance or lack of cooperation from certain quarters during the physical verification process, making enumerators' tasks difficult.
Infrastructure & Technical Glitches: The digitisation process has been hampered by inconsistent power supply, internet connectivity issues, and software-related problems at some data entry centres.
The voters whose names are provisionally deleted due to "uncollectable" forms are not without recourse. They will have the opportunity to reclaim their franchise during the Claims and Objections period that will follow the publication of the draft list. Individuals can apply for inclusion by providing valid documentary proof. The Election Commission has emphasised that this is a provisional measure to purify the rolls, and every legitimate voter will be given a fair chance to be enrolled.
The scale of "uncollectable" forms has inevitably drawn political attention. While the EC maintains it is a routine administrative step to clean the list of duplicate, non-existent, or shifted voters, political parties are gearing up to scrutinise the provisional deletions closely. The urban-rural disparity in digitisation speed also raises questions about logistical planning and resource allocation in complex urban environments.
The final electoral roll, expected after the resolution of all claims and objections, will form the bedrock for the upcoming crucial elections in the state. The Commission faces the critical task of balancing the imperative of an error-free roll with the guarantee that no genuine voter is disenfranchised in the process.
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