Final voter list released in Bengal, vigilance increased across the state

5

Publication of first supplementary voter list in West Bengal

Kolkata. The Election Commission plans to release the first supplementary voter list in West Bengal on Monday. In this context, police stations across the state have been put on alert. According to an Election Commission official, proper verification of more than 27 lakh cases has been done.

special intensive review process

The Election Commission may release the first supplementary voter list for West Bengal on Monday evening. This work will be done under the Special Intensive Review (SIR) process. Officials said that this list will be released like the final voter list, copies of which will be sent to the district election officers and then displayed at the polling stations in the state.

27 lakh cases settled

Election Commission officials said the review process has been extensive and more than 27 lakh cases have been disposed of. These cases were among the 60 lakh voters who were marked as ‘pending’ in the final voter list published on February 28.

High alert situation in the state

In view of the possible publication of the first supplementary voter list, the state administration has put all police stations and police administrations on high alert to maintain law and order. The Home Department has instructed the District Magistrates to increase vigilance in sensitive areas. Along with this, instructions have also been given to deploy police for crowd management and maintain coordination with senior officials to control the law and order situation.

resolution of uncertainty

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer has confirmed that the supplementary voter list will be released on Monday, which is expected to provide clarity to the status of a large number of voters. In the final SIR list released on February 28, more than 60 lakh names were kept in the under consideration category, leaving their status unresolved.

role of judicial officers

According to sources in the CEO office, 27 lakh cases have been reviewed till Friday. These cases are adjudicated by a panel of judicial officers. More than 700 judges and judicial officers have been deployed to review cases involving logical inconsistencies. West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal had earlier said that it was possible for the pending cases to be resolved before the elections.

body established for appeals

Based on the directions of the Supreme Court of India, the Election Commission of India has set up 19 district-level appellate bodies to resolve disputes related to the vetting process in the state. These bodies would be responsible for hearing cases that had failed to reach official disposal.

Chief Minister’s reaction

Considering the gravity of the situation, Justice T S Sivagnanam, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, has been appointed to monitor the appeals in key districts like Kolkata and North 24 Parganas. Other retired judges have also been assigned the task of handling similar cases in the remaining districts. The delay in the vetting process has drawn sharp reaction from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has accused officials of harassing legitimate voters.