This surge came despite the voter count dropping by 18 lakh in these 152 seats. They had 3.78 crore voters in 2021; this time, after SIR, the figure dropped to 3.6 crore.The updated EC figures show 14 of the 16 districts (all except Kalimpong and Darjeeling) recorded over 90% polling. Cooch Behar was at the top with 96%, closely followed by South Dinajpur (95.4%), Jalpaiguri (94.6%), Birbhum (94.5%) and Malda (94.4%). Murshidabad, where SIR reduced the number of voters by over 7 lakh, recorded a high 93.6% polling as well. Almost all these districts have a huge chunk of voters working in blue-collar jobs in other statesAlmost all these districts have a huge chunk of voters working in blue-collar jobs in other states. Conversations with voters in all these districts have indicated that the record-busting surge in turnout has been fuelled largely by these people returning home — often spending thousands of rupees on travel and losing their daily wages — to exercise their franchise. Almost everyone voiced fears that not voting in a cycle dominated by the SIR exercise might lead to deletion of their names from the voters’ roll.Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi — which saw four deaths in CISF firing during the 2021 poll — topped the turnout percentage list among constituencies, with 97.5% of electors voting. Shamsherganj in Murshidabad, which saw 91,712 names deleted in the SIR exercise (the highest in Bengal), recorded 96.1% polling.Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal on Thursday had explained that the exclusion of non-existent voters (ASDD or absent, shifted, dead/duplicate) had reduced the overall electorate, thereby contributing to a higher polling percentage. Significantly, however, Friday’s EC figures show a voter surge even in absolute terms.All nine assembly constituencies in Cooch Behar clocked over 94% polling and five of the six assembly constituencies in South Dinajpur recorded over 95% turnout; Kushmandi topped with 96.5%. Chanchal led the charge in Malda with a 95.5% turnout.
