As West Bengal entered Bengal Phase 1 voting on Thursday, officials included only 139 names in the final voter rolls on Wednesday. Authorities had earlier placed these voters under the “logical discrepancy” and “unmapped voters” categories. Judicial officers examined the cases and rejected most claims after adjudication, which sharply reduced the number of eligible voters added back to the rolls.
Meanwhile, authorities recorded 2.7 million deletions due to logical discrepancies across the state. Out of these, nearly 1.4 million voters belonged to constituencies going to polls in the first phase. This large-scale removal has made voter list revision a major issue during Bengal Phase 1 voting, especially in constituencies with tight electoral contests and high voter dependency.
Tribunal Clearance Adds Only 139 Voters
The 139 voters whose names were restored will be eligible to vote on Wednesday, joining 36 million others across 152 constituencies.
“Two lists have been published for the first phase polls. While one comprises names of voters, who were included in the electoral roll after being cleared by the court-appointed appellate tribunals, the second one comprises deleted names of voters,” said an ECI official as reported by the Hindustan Times.
Meantime, the CEO said on Tuesday, “The political parties, candidates, the returning officers and district election officers will be given a copy of the updated list. Electors whose cases are cleared by the tribunals will be informed through their booth-level officers.”
“In all, 139 names have been included in the voters’ list after clearance from appellate tribunals. We have also deleted eight names,” State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said while speaking to PTI.
“All 139 voters whose names we added after tribunal orders will vote on Wednesday, joining 36 million others across 152 constituencies,” he added, confirming their participation in Bengal Phase 1 voting.
Supplementary Electoral Roll Published
On Wednesday morning, the Election Commission of India published a supplementary electoral roll for Phase 1 constituencies. The list incorporated outcomes of appellate tribunal hearings conducted ahead of the deadline set by the Supreme Court of India on April 21.
Voters whose names were restored became eligible to cast their votes in Bengal Phase 1 voting. Officials released two separate lists—one containing names of voters included after tribunal clearance and another listing deleted voters, an ECI official said.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that voters cleared by appellate tribunals at least two days before polling would be allowed to vote. The order relaxed the earlier freeze on voter lists and provided limited relief to affected voters.
The Supreme Court also invoked Article 142 of the Constitution and directed the ECI to implement appellate orders cleared by April 21 for Phase 1 and April 27 for Phase 2 through a supplementary revised electoral roll.
