Kolkata, Jan 5 || Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has received information about 14 voters who are holding Indian EPIC cards and Bangladeshi passports simultaneously.
Based on inputs and suspicions that these 14 voters might be originally Bangladeshi residents, the CEO’s office had sought information about them from the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Kolkata.
The FRRO, Kolkata, recently wrote back to the CEO’s office confirming that these 14 voters were holding Bangladeshi passports. All of them came to West Bengal with valid visas and did not go back to Bangladesh even after the expiry of their visa terms.
Subsequently, they managed to get for themselves some of the Indian identity documents, one of which is the EPIC card. The CEO’s office had already recommended to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the deletion of the names of these voters from the final voters’ list to be published on February 14, confirmed an insider from the CEO’s office.