Kolkata, Dec. 2 -- In a dramatic twist less than 24 hours after the Election Commission of India (EC) sought written explanations, the number of polling booths in West Bengal that earlier claimed zero uncollectable SIR (Special Intensive Revision) forms has shrunk sharply - from 2,208 to just 480.
District Election Office (DEO) submissions till Monday stated that in all 2,208 booths, not a single voter had been marked dead, shifted, missing or otherwise untraceable.
Every enumeration form distributed had supposedly been collected and digitised - an anomaly the Commission immediately flagged.
Once the EC sought formal reports from EROs, countersigned by DEOs, the numbers were revised on Tuesday, shrinking the earlier cluster dramatically....