As the Trinamool Congress continues to raise concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, the Election Commission (EC) has published the first supplementary list of voters following SIR adjudications in poll-bound West Bengal. The list, available on the EC's website from around 11:55 pm on Monday, is part of the ongoing process of updating the electoral rolls.
In the final voters' list published on February 28, around 60 lakh names were marked as "under adjudication" after the SIR process. To address this, the Commission had deployed 705 judicial officers to determine whether these names should be retained or deleted.
On Monday, just hours before the supplementary list was released, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal stated that approximately 29 lakh names had been adjudicated so far. However, it remains unclear how many of these names were retained in the supplementary list and how many were removed.
Voters can check their names on the supplementary list by entering their Assembly constituency, booth number, and other details on the EC's website or through the ECInet app. However, reports indicate that many people faced difficulties in downloading the list.
According to EC officials, more supplementary lists will be published in the coming days ahead of the elections.
As per the final voters' list published on February 28, the state has 7.04 crore electors, including 60.06 lakh voters whose names were marked "under adjudication". The highest number of cases pending adjudication were in Murshidabad district (11 lakh), followed by Malda (8.28 lakh), according to an Indian Express report.
Agarwal stated that once the supplementary list is published, voters can challenge the decisions in appellate tribunals, which are to be set up by the Calcutta High Court. However, no timeline has been provided for the establishment of these tribunals, even as the elections are just a month away.
West Bengal’s 294-member Assembly will go to polls in two phases on April 23 and 29, with the results to be counted on May 4.
Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been vociferous in her criticism of the SIR process, accusing the Election Commission of acting at the behest of the BJP. She has labelled the electoral list revision as an attempt to carry out a mass deletion of voters in the state.
