With the deadline for hearings regarding claims and objections to the draft voters’ list in West Bengal now concluded, and the process still pending in approximately 15 Assembly constituencies across three electoral districts, uncertainty persisted concerning the extension of the deadline in this regard.
Although the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, has sought an extension of seven days in the hearing process, no reply has so far come from the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s headquarters in New Delhi to the CEO’s office in Kolkata.
Insiders from the CEO’s office pointed out that the continuing confusion stems from two grounds — the first is what the new deadline for completing the hearing exercise could be. The second point of confusion is whether the extension of the deadline will be limited to the 15 Assembly constituencies where the hearing sessions are scheduled to be completed, or whether the deadline will be extended for the entire state.
“In case the ECI opts for the second option, there will be a proportionate delay in the publication of the final voters’ list that is scheduled to be published on February 14,” explained an insider from the CEO’s office.
The 15 or so Assembly constituencies where the hearing process is yet to be concluded are concentrated mainly in three electoral districts of minority-dominated Malda, coast-bordering South 24 Parganas, and Kolkata (Uttar).
Meanwhile, over 4,00,000 additional voters have already been identified as eligible for deletion from the final voters’ list because they failed to turn up for the hearing sessions on claims and objections to the draft voters’ list despite being served with subsequent notices for appearance.
Out of these, 4,00,000 voters who are heading for imminent deletion, 50,000 are “unmapped” voters, and around 3,50,000 are “logical discrepancy” cases. Unmapped voters are those who were unable to establish a link with the 2002 voters’ list either through “self-mapping” or “progeny mapping”. On the other hand, “logical discrepancy” cases are those in which unusual family-tree data were detected during “progeny” mapping.
When the draft voters’ list was published in December last year, a total of 58,20,899 voters were deleted after being identified as deceased, shifted, or duplicates. With the publication of the final voters’ list on February 14, the final number of deletions will become clear.
After the publication, the full Bench of the ECI will visit West Bengal to assess the situation. The ECI will then announce the polling dates for the Assembly elections.
A crucial hearing on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is scheduled at a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Monday. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee might again argue the matter before the Bench as she had done on February 4.
