Post outrage, EC unveils new portal; final voter list ‘on Feb 7’

Kolkata: Hit by a barrage of complaints, queries and public outrage after Bengal’s voters were left frustrated for hours on Thursday when the Chief Electoral Officer’s website crashed under heavy traffic, the Election Commission scrambled into action on Friday — launching a new portal, ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in, to let electors verify their or their parents’ names in the 23-year-old (2002) post-SIR electoral rolls.

Sources in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office said the complete 2002 voter list would now be available on the new website, which would also serve as the hub for all SIR-related work going forward.

As per the Election Commission’s guidelines, voters whose names — or their parents’ names — appear in the 2002 electoral rolls will not be required to submit fresh documents for inclusion in the current voter list. The 2002 rolls have gained renewed significance as the EC conducts the SIR exercise across Bengal, covering nearly 7.62 crore voters ahead of next summer’s Assembly elections. Back in 2002, Bengal’s voter count stood at around 4.58 crore. Regarding the glitch, sources in the Bengal CEO’s office stated that the website was maintained by the NIC, and there was a policy decision that the agency would not upgrade its server. Consequently, the website would be managed by the state data centre under the Bengal government’s IT department henceforth.

The BLOs will visit every household across Bengal between November 4 and December 4 as part of the voter verification drive.

Starting November 4, enumeration forms will be distributed among the state’s 7.6 crore voters. Each form will come with pre-filled details, including the voter’s name, EPIC number, and address, along with the serial number, part number, and names of the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies. It will also feature a QR code and the voter’s old photograph, beside which they will need to paste a new one.

According to the CEO’s office, the draft voter list will be released on December 9, following which voters can file claims and objections between December 9 and January 8. The final electoral roll is slated for publication on February 7.