West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asked officers involved in upgrading voter lists to include those who have attained 18 years of age and not to exclude anyone on religious identity.
Speaking at an administrative meeting here, Banerjee alleged that a "conspiracy is being hatched and around 30 per cent of voters living in some border areas have been excluded from the new list”.
"I request officers to include everybody's name as per the Election Commission's rule. They must include those who have turned 18, and should not exclude anyone on religious identity," Banerjee said at the meeting.
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The CM also directed the DMs and the SPs to keep an eye on the preparation of the voters' lists to check whether there is any wrongdoing or not. "The DMs, SPs must pay surprise visits to camps where voter lists are prepared. MLAs, Zilla Parishad members must keep an eye on it as well," she said. According to a draft electoral roll published on Wednesday, West Bengal has 7,42,88,233 voters, 12,577 less than the year-ago count.
(With PTI inputs)
