Pre-birth certificates, minor voters: Bengal SIR data raises red flags

Kolkata: The special intensive revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal has thrown up unusual data during scrutiny. In Metiaburuz area, on the southern outskirts of Kolkata, the birth dates of a couple's third and fourth children-Sk Irshad and Sheikh Nowsed-submitted during SIR show a gap of less than one month. Documents seen by ET list their dates of birth as December 5, 1990, and January 1, 1991.

ECI sources told ET that all ten members of the family have been identified and appear to have the same parents. The name Sk Abdul Hai, though spelled differently, was listed as the father, while Manowara Bibi was consistently mentioned as the mother in all ten enumeration forms and documents submitted during the hearing. The father's name is listed as Abdul Hai, Sk Abdul Hai, Abdul Hai Sheikh, or Abdus High.

Out of the ten children, four were born on January 1. The ten are all residents of the same house, which falls under the same 'part' and 'serial' numbers, as per data seen by ET. In another case, the birth certificate of a person in North 24 Parganas district's Baranagar was issued two days before his birth.


ECI noticed that the birth certificate submitted by Papil Sarkar during the hearing mentioned the date as March 6, 1993. "But his birth certificate was registered two days ahead of his birth on March 4, 1993," ECI sources said. The case will be sent to the electoral registration officer (ERO) for verification and the information will be verified from the respective hospital authority as well, the sources said.

One elector was found mapped with SIR 2002 at the age of five, who had applied in Bengal SIR, while another was found to be 13 years old, as per documents, ECI sources said. In another case, the date of birth of Alauddin Sheikh from Purba Bardhaman's Memari has been mentioned in the enumeration form as X/X/1987. All these cases have been sent for verification to the ERO.

Following the hearing and uploading phase, "super checking" is being undertaken by EROs and more than 8,000 micro-observers.