SIR: 23.3 lakh ‘under adjudication’ cases disposed; Shashi Panja’s name cleared

Kolkata: The disposal of ‘under adjudication’ cases in Bengal has gained momentum with nearly two lakh cases being scrutinised by judicial officers daily. According to sources in the Election Commission, a total of 23.3 lakhs “under adjudication” cases have been disposed of till Wednesday.

The apex poll body has cleared the name of senior Trinamool Congress leader and outgoing state minister Shashi Panja, which was ‘under adjudication’. Panja has been nominated from the Shyampukur Assembly Constituency by TMC. She had requested early disposal of her case.

As per the final electoral roll published on February 28, a total of 6,44,52,609 voters were listed as eligible, while 60,06,675 names remained “under adjudication.”

The state CEO’s office had announced on Tuesday that it hopes that by Friday or Saturday, the supplementary list will be published.

The adjudication is happening as per the Supreme Court order, and as per the latest order of the apex court, the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court is monitoring the entire process.

“We need to develop software for the safe transfer of the supplementary list, and we have already handed over the blueprint of the same to the Hon’ble High Court. Once they give us the nod, we will operationalise the same in the next two to three days, and accordingly, the list will be transferred to us through the software and will be published,” said an EC official.

On the administrative front, the Commission has appointed 478 observers for poll duty in the state, with one general observer assigned to each Assembly Constituency. These observers began arriving in the state on Wednesday. The Commission had announced the election schedule on March 15. Polling will be held in two phases—on April 23 for 152 seats and on April 29 for 142 seats. Counting of votes will take place on May 4.