The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the first supplementary voter list of West Bengal, prepared following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, will be published on Monday (23rd March).
The development was confirmed by State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal. In the meantime, the West Bengal government has put all 23 districts in the State on ‘high alert.’
Directives were issued to District Magistrates (DMs) to ‘maintain strict surveillance in sensitive areas’ and deploy adequate police forces.
The Election Commission of India had deleted a whopping 58,20,899 names from the electoral rolls of the State on account of death, absence, shift, and duplication.
At the same time, a list of 60 lakh ‘doubtful voters’ was finalised, and their status was adjudicated by judicial officers.
The first supplementary voter list will thus bring clarity about the status of these voters. Until Friday (20th March), 27 lakh cases were already decided by judicial officers.
It must be mentioned that the ECI has set up 19 district-level appellate tribunals to resolve SIR-related disputes in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court.
