Plea against minors' names on voters' list

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 7: Malda CPI-M leaders today lodged a new complaint with the district election officer against inclusion of the names of minor voters in the electoral rolls.The CPI-M workers identified nine minor boys and girls who have included their names in the voters’ list by submitting fake school leaving certificates.According to the complaint, the names of these minor voters were included at a village in the Krishnapur gram panchayat area, allegedly under the supervision of the Congress leaders.The CPI-M alleged that the members of Krishnapur gram panchayat had played an active role to include the names of minors in the electoral rolls in connivance with the government officials. The area is under the Kaliachak Assembly segment.Yesterday, the Malda district administration had admitted that eight such cases were detected at Bhagabanpur village under the same Assembly segment.“We will ask the block development officer to probe the matter,”Mr BP Barat, the additional district magistrate of Malda, said.The CPI-M candidate, Mr Biswanath Ghosh, is trying hard to regain the Kaliachak seat from the Congress MLA, Mr AH Khan Choudhury, brother of Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury.Mr AH Khan Choudhury had been elected twice from the Kaliachak Assembly constituency.On both occasions, he defeated Mr Biswanath Ghosh by a narrow margin.