Kolkata: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) J M Lyngdoh on February 1 gave a clean chit to the West Bengal government on the issue of revision of electoral rolls, saying there was no evidence of malpractice in deletion of names from the list.

Talking to reporters here after a meeting with Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and representatives of political parties, he said during the meeting "some points" were raised on the issue of deletion of names from the current electoral rolls.

''I told them that getting names off the electoral rolls per se is not an indication of cheating by the government or its agencies. As much as 10 per cent of the names have been knocked off from the rolls in Delhi. As far as I remember, similar things happened in Goa and Rajasthan,'' he said.

While admitting that there could be some "genuine" allegations of deletion of some names from the electoral rolls, Lyngdoh, however, said, "By and large, I have not come across any evidence of malpractice (in that regard) in West Bengal."

Pointing out that electoral rolls were "supposed" to go on changing with the movement of people in and out from their places of residence, he said the electoral rolls should reflect the shift. An increase of two per cent of voters was within the norm, but an increase of 10 per cent of voters at any polling station be supported by "good reasons".

Stating that the electoral rolls were not questioned in any advanced Democracy, he lamented that such a mindset was yet to take roots in India.

Asked whether he would take any special measures in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) announcement of implementing the 'Gujarat model' in other states, Lyngdoh said, "If you go out of bounds, there are Laws to deal with you. There are officers to implement the Laws.''

Pointing out that the Election Commission (EC) "did all it could" to prevent electioneering on communal lines in Gujarat, Lyngdoh said, "Despite our best efforts, they came out with new tricks which we found difficult to prevent."

To a question, he said the situation was "not so good" in Tripura, which is going for Assembly polls later in February, he said that the EC, however, would try to work as best as it could under the situation. "Our job is to conduct the elections and we will try to do so in Tripura."

Lamenting that there seemed to be a process of "less and less Democracy" in the country, he said, "If there is no Democracy, you don't need an Election Commission. But I hope that Democracy will prevail and as long as it does, the EC will continue to do its job."

The CEC declined to comment on reports that the BJP was in favour of holding the general elections between November and March.

Earlier, Lyngdoh inaugurated the state election department's new office at Jessop Building near the state secretariat.

PTI