The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the West Bengal Assembly elections on Sunday evening, March 15, even as the status of lakhs of voters in the state remains uncertain due to an ongoing judicial review of the electoral rolls, as reported by the siasat.com
The timing of the announcement has drawn attention, as a large number of cases flagged during the verification process are still pending adjudication. Officials said more than 60 lakh voters were identified under the “logical discrepancy” category and referred for judicial scrutiny. However, by Friday night, only about 15 lakh of these cases had been reviewed, accounting for roughly a quarter of the total.
According to a source in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal, a little over five lakh voters among those examined so far have been found excludable. This amounts to around 34 percent of the cases that have been reviewed.
When combined with earlier deletions, the total number of names removed from the electoral rolls now stands at around 63 lakh. This includes nearly 59 lakh names that had already been dropped from the draft voters’ list published in December last year under categories such as deceased, shifted, duplicate and missing.
To speed up the adjudication process, 732 judicial officers have been deployed. The panel includes around 100 officers each from neighbouring states Jharkhand and Odisha. Officials described the pace of work as satisfactory and indicated that the first supplementary voters’ list could be released as early as next week.
The final electoral roll, excluding the cases that are still under review, was published on February 28. In line with directions issued by the Supreme Court, supplementary lists will be released in phases as the adjudication process continues.
Voters whose names are removed from the rolls will have the option to challenge the decision. The Supreme Court has asked the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to recommend former chief justices and judges, preferably from the Calcutta High Court or neighbouring states, to serve on appellate tribunals. Once recommended, the Election Commission will formally notify them, allowing excluded voters a forum to contest their removal.
Last week, the full bench of the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, visited Kolkata. Speaking to reporters, Kumar expressed confidence that the adjudication process would be completed before polling begins and said every eligible voter would be given the opportunity to cast their vote.
The current adjudication exercise follows an order issued by the Supreme Court last month. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipin Pancholi directed the deployment of serving and retired judicial officers to examine claims and objections arising from the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
