KOLKATA: Its electoral strength down from 1.91 lakh before the SIR to 1.22 lakh, the Jorasanko assembly constituency has the fewest voters in Kolkata. Across Bengal, it comes second, after Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas, which has 1.17 lakh voters.On the list of 10 seats in Bengal with fewest voters, Jorasanko is followed by Chowringhee (1.26 lakh voters) and Shyampukur (1.31 lakh voters). Two more Kolkata assembly seats are on the list: Rashbehari is in the eighth position with 1.58 lakh voters, followed by Bhowanipore (1.6 lakh voters).The other four constituencies among the top 10 are Bally (1.33 lakh voters), Howrah North (1.49 lakh), Bijpur (1.58 lakh voters) and Shamsherganj (1.61 lakh).
Other than Shamsherganj, all the constituencies will go to the polls on April 29.The massive deletion of names following the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll has skewed the state’s electoral gender ratio from 970 female voters per 1,000 male voters to 950 female voters per 1,000 male voters. It’s even worse in some of the constituencies on the list of 10.In Bhatpara, the current ratio is 856 female voters per 1,000 male voters. In Jorasanko, it is 763 female voters per 1,000 male voters, while Chowringhee and Shyampukur have 787 and 946 female voters, respectively, per 1,000 male voters.Rashbehari is the only seat with more fem-ale voters than men – 1,016:1,000. Bhowanipore’s ratio stands at 956:1,000, higher than the state average. The SIR has triggered widespread anger among residents following the deletion of 38,000 names. Mohammad Aslam Ansari, a resident of Kankinara, said, “Because of a minor spelling error in my father’s name, his name as well as mine have been struck off the voters’ roll.” Munna Shaw, a resident of Bhatpara, said his name and the names of two of his kin were removed on the grounds of ‘logical discrepancies’. Jorasanko recorded 77,993 deletions, the third highest in Kolkata. A local political functionary said, “Names of over 60% of the individuals placed under adjudication were deleted from the roll. Wards such as 37, 38, 39 and 43, which have significant minority populations, recorded the highest number of adjudication cases.” In Jorasanko, Muslims accounted for 22.4% of ASD (absent, shifted, dead/duplicate) voters whose names were removed from the roll in the first phase of the SIR, a figure that broadly matches the 20% share of Muslims in the population as per the 2011 Census. However, when it came to ‘logical discrepancy’, 56% of those flagged were Muslims. At 87,725, Chowringhee witnessed the highest deletions among all city constituencies.
