Statesman News Service
MALDA, April 10: Despite having Epic and ration cards, the names of more than 500 voters of an island called Khatiakhana in the mid-Ganges between West Bengal and Jharkhand, are missing from the electoral rolls. The Ganga Bhangan Pritorodh Action Nagarik Commiitte, a local organisation, has brought the matter to the notice of the Election Commission after their reminders to the Malda district election officials were in vain.Inhabitants of this island argued that they were the residents of Kaliachak II block in Malda and had lost everything due to erosion five years back, but the land where they live at present surfaced in 2004 and all land records are lying in the Kaliachak registry office under the control of the Malda district administration. Nearly 250-odd families live on the Khatiakhana island.“We receive ration from Hamidpur village in the Kaliachak area and approached the block development officer to enrol our names in the electoral rolls but failed to pacify him. Are we not the citizens of India,” villagers asked Mrs Purnima Mandal.It was alleged that recently, their names have been deleted from Sreepore village (booth number 28) which is under Hamidpur gram panchayat. District election officials claimed that the Jharkhand government had issued Epic cards for them earlier.
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