Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will publish the draft voters’ list for Bengal on February 28 in compliance with directions from the Supreme Court of India.
The Commission, however, clarified that this will not be the final electoral roll and further revisions will be carried out in phases.
According to Commission sources, all names will appear in the February 28 list, but voters will be categorised based on their verification status.
The list will categorise entries as ‘approved’, ‘deleted’ or ‘under adjudication’. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said the format will remain the same as the draft roll, with names under adjudication clearly marked and deleted entries identified accordingly. He added that names added through Form 6 will be included, while removed names will continue to be shown as “deleted”.
Agarwal added that those names that will figure in the ‘valid list’ till the last day of filing of nominations will be able to exercise their voting rights. The rest will not have that opportunity.
Sources said names cleared by February 28 will be treated as eligible voters and published in the regular list. Approximately 60 lakh names sent for judicial scrutiny will be marked as “under adjudication”.
A separate list of voters cleared from this category will be issued later and merged with the final roll.
At the time the SIR was announced, West Bengal had 7.66 crore registered voters. More than 58 lakh names were subsequently removed on grounds such as death, absence or being untraceable, reducing the draft roll count to 7.08 crore.
The task of resolving disputed entries has been assigned to judicial officers appointed by the Calcutta High Court. The High Court directed that the electoral roll be published on February 28 based on the progress of the SIR up to that date, with clear mention of the verification status of each voter.
A meeting was held at Calcutta High Court in the presence of the state CEO, the state Chief Secretary, top brass of the police on Thursday. Agarwal informed Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, who chaired the meeting, about the plan regarding the publication of the final list .
To expedite the process, 532 officers from West Bengal have been deployed for SIR-related work. The High Court has also sought 100 judicial officers each from Odisha and Jharkhand.