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Bengal Voter List: ECI Targets 7 Lakh Daily Hearings Ahead of Assembly Polls

The Election Commission of India has set an ambitious target of conducting seven lakh hearings per day to complete the revision of West Bengal's draft voters' list by February 7. The process involves 6,500 hearing centers across the state, with electoral officers handling roughly 107 cases daily per center. Following the hearings, the final voters' list will be published on February 14, after which polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections are expected to be announced. The Commission has instituted a two-stage verification process for identity documents and has clarified that state-issued domicile certificates and Madhyamik admit cards will not be considered valid proof.

Key Points: ECI Sets 7 Lakh Daily Hearings for Bengal Voter List Revision

  • 7 lakh daily hearing target
  • 6,500 centers across Bengal
  • Final voter list by Feb 14
  • Two-stage document verification
  • Domicile certificates not valid ID
2 min read

Bengal SIR: ECI sets target of seven lakh hearings per day to complete process by Feb 7

Election Commission aims for 7 lakh daily hearings to finalize West Bengal voter list by Feb 7, ahead of crucial Assembly elections expected by April.

"this is neither an unachievable target nor a herculean task - Chief Electoral Officer sources"

Kolkata, Jan 18

With less than a month left for both completion of the hearings on claims and objections to the draft voters' list in West Bengal as well as the publication of the final voters' list, the Election Commission of India, has now set a target to complete 7,00,000 hearings a day through 6,500 hearing centres scattered all over the state.

The Commission is of the view that this is neither an unachievable target nor a herculean task, considering that the electoral officers in each hearing centre will have to handle around 107 hearing cases a day, roughly, said sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.

The deadline for hearings to claims and objections on the draft voters' list is February 7, following which the final voters' list will be published on February 14.

Shortly after the publication of the final voters' list, the ECI is expected to announce the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state later this year.

Recently, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, interacting with the media persons in Kolkata, said that the polling and counting will be over by the end of April.

The process of hearing the "unmapped" voters, which is currently underway, is almost complete, and by next week, the "logical discrepancy" cases will be heard.

Unmapped voters are those who were unable to establish any link either through "self-mapping" or through "progeny-mapping" with the voters' list for 2002, the last time when the voters' list revision exercise was conducted in West Bengal.

On the other hand, "logical discrepancy" cases relate to those voters in whose cases weird family-tree data had been detected in the course of "progeny mapping".

Already, the Commission had directed that there would be a two-stage verification and authentication of supporting identity documents to be furnished by the voters summoned for hearing.

Electoral registration officers (EROs) will conduct the first stage of verification and authentication, and District Magistrates, who are also District Electoral Officers, will conduct the second stage of verification.

The Commission had already made it clear that domicile certificates issued by the state government and admit cards of Madhyamik, the secondary examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, will not be considered authentic identity-proof documents.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rajesh Q
Good move by ECI. The focus on "logical discrepancy" and proper document verification is crucial. So many fake voters get added during revisions. Strict rules like not accepting just domicile certificates will help. Hope this deters any malpractice. 👍
A
Aman W
107 cases per centre per day? That's roughly one every 5 minutes if they work non-stop. Are the officers equipped for this? My concern is quality over quantity. Rushing through hearings could lead to genuine voters being left out. The intention is right, but execution needs care.
S
Sarah B
Interesting to see the technical terms like "unmapped voters" and "progeny-mapping". It shows the process has depth. The timeline is tight with elections likely by April. Hope all parties cooperate and people don't face unnecessary hassles just to prove they are citizens.
K
Karthik V
The last revision was in 2002? That's nearly 22 years ago! No wonder there are discrepancies. This exercise is long overdue. Bengal elections are always high-stakes. A correct electoral roll is the first step towards a mandate that reflects the true will of the people. Jai Hind!
M
Meera T
My elderly parents live in a village in North Bengal. I hope the hearing centres are accessible and the officers are patient with them. Rejecting Madhyamik admit cards might be problematic for some older people whose school records are lost. The process should be inclusive.

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