Kolkata/Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought to engage Odia interpreters-cum-translators for four-gram panchayats (GPs) — two each under the Dantan and Mohanpur community development blocks — in West Midnapore district of West Bengal (WB), for hearings on claims and objections related to the draft voters’ list.
This is because the majority of voters in these four GPs located close to the WB-Odisha border in the West Midnapore district are predominantly Odia-speaking.
“Even the duly-filled enumeration forms filled by them are in Odia scripts, thus necessitating the appointment of Odia interpreters-cum-translators for hearing sessions,” a senior official from the CEO’s office said.
These voters who have their ancestral roots in Odisha, the official said, had been settled in these four GPs under the two community development blocks for generations, and most of them depend on agriculture and animal husbandry for their livelihood.
“Often, the new brides coming to these families have their roots in Odisha, and they are conversant with no other language but Odia.
In such a situation, it had become extremely difficult for the Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, and Booth-level Officers to communicate with these voters, who are mainly Bengali-speaking, to interact with these Odia-speaking voters, and hence the necessity for Odia interpreters-cum-translators during the hearing sessions,” the official from the office of the CEO said.
Pertinent to mention here that the draft voters’ list was published December 16. The final voters’ list will be published February 14. Soon after that, the ECI will announce the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal.
