Kolkata, June 13 (IANS) The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal has removed the name of Newton Das from the voter list, officials said on Friday. He was seen participating in the 2024 student movement in Bangladesh.

The decision was taken after a thorough investigation by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Newton Das, having dual citizenship of India and Bangladesh, was a registered voter in the Kakdwip Assembly constituency in the South 24 Parganas district. He was actively involved in the student ‘movement’ in Bangladesh last year.

Insiders from the CEO’s office said the decision to remove Das’s name from the voters’ list was taken after the election-related senior officials received two consecutive reports from the office of the Kakdwip sub-divisional officer on this count.

Sources said that not being satisfied with the first report on the matter, the office of the CEO, West Bengal, asked for a second report from the office of the Kakdwip sub-divisional officer and after studying the reports in detail, it was finally decided to delete Das’s name from the voters’ list.

The controversy surfaced after some whistleblowers highlighted the picture of Newton Das, a registered voter with Kakdwip Assembly constituency, featuring in the students’ movement in Bangladesh last year on social media.

The whistleblowers also claimed that Das had dual citizenship of India and Bangladesh. Even Tapan Das, a cousin of Newton Das and also a registered voter in the Kakdwip Assembly constituency, confirmed to the investigating officials and to the media persons that Newton had voter cards both in India and Bangladesh.

However, since the beginning, Newton denied the allegations of holding Bangladeshi citizenship, though he did not deny having gone to the country and participating in the students’ movement there.

According to him, he had been a voter of the Kakdwip Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district since 2014 and had also voted in the Lok Sabha elections that year.

He claimed that he went to Bangladesh in 2024 in order to address some issues relating to his ancestral property there, and during that period, he got involved with the students’ movement there.

He also claimed that in 2017 he lost the EPIC card, which was issued to him in 2014, and in 2018 he was issued a fresh card. He also admitted that the Trinamool Congress MLA from Kakdwip, Manturam Pakhira, helped him get the new EPIC card.

The West Bengal unit of the BJP created uproar on the issue and claimed that Newton’s example validates their long-time allegations of Trinamool Congress and the state administration enlisting Bangladeshi nationals in the state’s voters list.

–IANS

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