Probe ordered into complaint over two voter cards held by Bengal BJP president's wife

Kolkata, May 23 (IANS) A probe has been ordered following complaints of the wife of BJP’s state president in West Bengal and the Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar holding two voters’ cards from two different districts in the state.

The order for the probe had been given by the new Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal Manoj Kumar Agarwal and the district magistrates of both the districts concerned, have been asked to file reports on the matter to the office of the CEO at the earliest.

As per the complaint, the original voters’ card was registered in the Jalpaiguri district and it was registered in the maiden surname of Majumdar’s wife which was Koel Chowdhury. The second EPIC card is registered in South Dinajpur district and it was registered with the name of Koyel Majumdar.

An insider from the CEO's office said that it seems that when she got herself registered as a voter in the South Dinajpur district after her marriage with her post-marriage surname of Majumdar, she submitted the wrong form and thus she did not mention her original EPIC card registered in Jalpaiguri with her maiden surname.

“In her case, she should have filled up Form-18, through which the new epic card with the post-marriage surname in South Dinajpur would have been issued and at the same time, her original EPIC card with her maiden surname at Jalpaiguri would have been cancelled. But, instead she submitted Form-6. The fault, in this case, was entirely on the part of the voter concerned, since it is the responsibility of the voters concerned to update the CEO office about changes in addresses, names, and surnames if any,” the CEO office insider said.

Incidentally, Sukanta Majumdar is a two-time Lok Sabha member from Balurghat constituency in South Dinajpur district only. At the time the report was filed there was no reaction from his end in the matter.

--IANS

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