Abhijit Ray, Kolkata:More than 13 lakh new names have been added to the voter list of the state of West Bengal. The panchayat elections is going to occur in the state within a few months. All the political parties have started warming up in preparation for the elections. They have to work extra hard to win the hearts of these new voters. According to the sources of the State Election Commission, the process of revising the voter list is going on across the state from November 9 to the 8th of this month. Many applications have been submitted to the State Election Commission during this period. A large proportion of these will be first-time voters. According to commission sources, about 32 lakh forms have been submitted for adding new names to the voter list and various amendments. Among them, 13.5 lakh names are new and prospective voters. 10 lakh forms have already been submitted for those who have already completed 18 years.3.5 lakh forms have been submitted for turning 18 in January. All in all, 13.5 lakh new voters are going to be added to the electoral roll of the state before the panchayat elections across the state. It is true that not all these new voters live in Gram Panchayat areas. But even then, the portion that remains is enough to change the outcome of any seat in the panchayat elections.According to the sources of the State Election Commission, every year from this year, the citizens of the country will be given the opportunity to get their name in the voter list 4 times a year. As such, there will be one more opportunity to get names in the voter list in the month of March-April. However, the panchayat elections are supposed to be held with the final voter list published in January. In other words, about 10 lakh new voters will exercise their right to vote for the first time in this panchayat election.According to the commission, about 32 lakh forms have been submitted for adding new names to the voter list and various amendments across the state. Among them, South 24 Parganas district has received maximum number of applications. There the number is 4 lakh 86 thousand. Then there are North 24 Parganas. 4 lakh 21 thousand applications have been submitted there. From these two districts, the most applications for adding new names have been submitted.Incidentally, these two districts have come to be known as the strongholds of Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of Bengal, especially the South 24 Parganas district. This trend of voter growth is undoubtedly very healthy for democracy, the commission said.
13 lakhs new voters in the West Bengal
