• Source:JND
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The Election Commission of India has reported that the names of nearly 26 lakh voters in West Bengal's current electoral rolls have not matched with the voter list of 2002, a base list for the special intensive revision of the rolls, an official said.

Speaking about the discrepancy, the official on Wednesday evening said that it emerged after the state's latest voter list was compared to those prepared across different states between 2002 and 2006 during the previous SIR exercise.

The report came as the poll body has so far distributed the enumeration forms, and news agency PTI cited EC sources saying that more than six crore forms in the state had been digitised by Wednesday afternoon under the ongoing SIR process.

The official said that the forms are brought under the mapping procedure once they are digitised. Accordingly, the figure 26 lakh has popped up. "Once digitised, these forms are brought under the mapping procedure, where they are matched against the previous SIR records. Initial findings show that the names of around 26 lakh voters in the state cannot yet be reconciled with the data from the last SIR cycle," the official was quoted as saying by PTI.

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The official added that the figure may rise further as the procedure of digitisation continues. 

What is mapping?

In the electoral context, the term "mapping" refers to the process of cross-verifying the latest published voter list with the last detailed and intact voter rolls, which, in Bengal's case, is the SIR rolls last compiled in 2002.

This year, the mapping exercise has also included voter lists from other states, a step taken by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer to ensure a more comprehensive and accurate verification process, he said.

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The poll body official, however, clarified that a mismatch in mapping does not necessarily mean automatic removal from the final electoral roll.

(With PTI Inputs)

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