Malda sabhadhipati's name scrapped

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 29. — The Malda district administration has finally decided to delete the name of the sabhadhipati of Malda zilla parishad, Mr Goutam Chakraborty, from the electoral rolls after a thorough investigation into the allegations against him, a senior official said today. The sabhadhipati was shown as a resident of Milky village in the voters’ list, but election officials found that the information was incorrect. Yesterday, the sub-divisional officer conducted a hearing on this issue for the second time, on the basis of a complaint lodged by a group of five CPI-M workers. Mr Chakraborty, who did not turn up for the first hearing, had to explain his permanent and temporary residence yesterday to prove himself a resident of Milky village in English Bazaar block, on the basis of papers submitted to the SDO after the complaint was lodged. Although Mr Chakraborty tried to defend himself with the help of several arguments, he failed to convince the SDO. “An Indian citizen does have the right to enlist his name, being an ordinary resident of a particular place, if he resides there for at least six months in a year or 50 per cent of 365 days. But Mr Chakraborty failed on this count,” a senior official from the Malda administration said. The CPI-M leaders had alleged that Mr Chakraborty had enlisted his name in the voters’ list of Milky village, though he was the permanent resident of English Bazaar town, simply to contest in the panchayat election as a zilla parishad member. The CPI-M leaders said they might demand his resignation from his present post in the zilla parishad.