Kolkata, Jan 24 (IANS) With the deadline for publication of two separate lists of “unmapped” voters and “logical discrepancy” cases identified during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal set to expire at midnight on Saturday, uncertainty prevails over whether the exercise can be completed on time.
Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that the two lists, duly approved by the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi, have already reached the CEO’s office and have been circulated among the electoral registration officers (EROs).
However, insiders said that completing the entire process by the stipulated deadline appeared difficult, considering the time required to simultaneously upload the lists on the CEO’s official website and display hard copies at block offices, panchayat offices in rural areas, and ward offices in municipalities and municipal corporations.
“Uploading the data and ensuring physical display of the lists across all administrative units within such a short timeframe seems practically unfeasible,” a senior official in the CEO’s office said.
According to officials, the two lists together are expected to contain around 1.52 crore names. Of these, approximately 32 lakh names pertain to “unmapped” voters, while the remaining entries fall under “logical discrepancy” cases.
“Unmapped” voters are those who could not establish any linkage — either through self-mapping or progeny mapping — with the 2002 voters’ list, the last occasion when such an intensive revision exercise was conducted in West Bengal.
“Logical discrepancy” cases, on the other hand, involve voters whose family-tree data revealed anomalies during the progeny-mapping process.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, acting on a petition filed by the Trinamool Congress, had directed the Election Commission to publish only the list of “logical discrepancy” cases. However, on January 21, the ECI announced that it would comply with the apex court’s directions while publishing two separate lists — one for “unmapped” voters and another for “logical discrepancy” cases — identified during the SIR process.
–IANS
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