West Bengal: EC adds around 7 lakh new voters ahead of polls

Around seven lakh new voters have been added to the West Bengal electoral rolls ahead of the assembly polls. Around 3.22 lakh of these new electors will vote in the first phase, while the remaining nearly 3.88 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the second phase, a senior official of the EC official said on Saturday. "The aggregate figures have been released in line with norms. Detailed data is maintained separately and may be shared later if required," the senior EC official said.
District-level data shows that the highest increase was observed in North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, and East Midnapore. North 24 Parganas alone recorded over 71,000 new voters, while Kolkata added nearly 44,000. But the Commission’s figures also revealed that the number of female voters has declined.At present, West Bengal’s total voter count stands at 6 crore 82 lakh 51 thousand and eight. Among them, more than 3 crores 49 lakhs are men, just above 3 crores 33 lakhs are women, and 1,257 voters are registered under the third gender category. Commission sources note that once pending tribunal cases are resolved, the numbers may rise further.