“Usually, people don’t respond to the programme carried out every year before the electoral roll revision starts in October. This year, there has been an unprecedented spurt in the number of people updating their information in the border districts. Nearly 45 per cent voters have verified their names in these areas compared to 7 to 8 per cent last year,” said a senior official. The rush suggests that despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s reassurances that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in Bengal, people in the border districts are in panic over the population register. “The chief minister has urged people to update their names in the voters’ list… Officials have been asked to make arrangements.

Source: The Telegraph September 28, 2019 19:41 UTC