Voters both in Bengal and Bihar

Statesman News Service

MALDA. April 15. — Despite strict monitoring of the electoral rolls by the Election Commission, nearly 1,100 voters of Govindapur village in a char land on the Bihar and Bengal border in Malda district will cast votes in both states. At present, political leaders of Bengal are gearing up to campaign for the election of Ratua Assembly constituency and on the other hand, local leaders are in touch with them for the gram panchayat election to be held on 14 May. There is no hide-and-seek involved in casting their votes but government officials did not have information that 1,100 odd voters have Electoral Photo Identity Card (Epic) issued by the Bihar government. In char lands created by the Ganges and Fulohar in bordering areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal, many had Epics issued by three states. “A few Epics issued by Jharkhand and Bihar have been collected from people who live in Bengal as voters during roll revision. This has been reported to the Election Commission following a complaint,” said the additional district magistrate, Mr BP Barat. Since Independence, Govindapur has been the bone of contention between West Bengal and Bihar after the river Fulohar changed course. Although land records are maintained in Bihar, belonging to Ahmedabad gram panchayat, Ratua police station of West Bengal maintain the law and order. As a result, villagers have cast their votes for both states, said villagers Mr Nazimul Hossain, Mr Abu Hassan and Mr Manirul Zaman. According to them, they have been casting votes in two state for a long time and they were fortunate to have two MLAs, Mr Sailen Sarkar at the Ratua Assembly seat and Mr Mobaraque Hossain in Monihari Assembly seat in Bihar. Similarly they have MPs such as Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, elected from the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat and Mr Nikhil Chowdhury from Katihar. The BDO of Ratua I said he would look into the matter.