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Bengal Electoral Roll Cleanup: 20 Lakh Cases Adjudicated, Final List Awaited

The Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal stated that judicial adjudication has been completed for approximately 20 lakh out of over 60 lakh cases flagged during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The final voters' list published in February excluded about 63 lakh names identified as deceased, duplicate, shifted, or missing. A supplementary list based on the ongoing adjudication process is expected to be published within the current month. The adjudication is being handled by 732 judicial officers, with a high volume of cases originating from border districts like Murshidabad and Malda.

Key Points: Bengal Electoral Roll Adjudication: 1/3 of Cases Completed

  • 20 lakh cases adjudicated of 60 lakh referred
  • Final roll excluded 63 lakh names
  • First supplementary list due this month
  • 732 judicial officers working
2 min read

Judicial adjudication completed in one-third of referred SIR cases in Bengal: CEO

West Bengal CEO reports judicial adjudication finished for 20 lakh of 60 lakh electoral roll discrepancy cases. Supplementary lists pending.

"given the current pace of adjudication, the entire exercise is expected to be completed soon - Manoj Kumar Agarwal"

Kolkata, March 16

The judicial adjudication process has been completed for nearly one-third of the cases referred under the "logical discrepancy" category during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said on Monday.

Addressing media persons in Kolkata, Agarwal said a little over 60 lakh cases had been referred for judicial adjudication, of which the process has so far been completed for around 20 lakh cases.

He expressed confidence that, given the current pace of adjudication, the entire exercise is expected to be completed soon.

However, the CEO did not specify how many of the 20 lakh cases processed so far had been found eligible for deletion from the electoral rolls.

The final voters' list in West Bengal was published on February 28, excluding those cases that had been referred for judicial adjudication.

Supplementary lists will be published based on the progress of the adjudication exercise.

The first supplementary list in this regard is expected to be published during the current month.

According to officials, the final electoral roll published on February 28 excluded about 63 lakh names after they were identified as "deceased", "duplicate", "shifted" or "missing" voters.

In addition, a total of 60,06,675 cases were referred for judicial adjudication.

The adjudication process is being conducted by 732 judicial officers, including around 100 each from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand.

Officials said the officers are working round the clock to complete the exercise at the earliest.

The highest number of cases referred for judicial adjudication came from the two minority-dominated and Bangladesh-bordering districts of Murshidabad and Malda.

The number of such cases was also high in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts, which also share international borders with Bangladesh.

The two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held on April 23 and April 29.

Polling will be conducted for 152 constituencies in the first phase and for 142 constituencies in the second phase.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

P
Priya S
The fact that the highest number of discrepancies are from border districts like Murshidabad and Malda is very telling. This special revision was long overdue. We need clean rolls to ensure a fair election. Kudos to the officers working round the clock.
R
Rohit P
They removed 63 lakh names and sent another 60 lakh for review? That's over 1.2 crore entries! This shows how flawed our electoral rolls have been. This cleanup is essential for democracy. But the CEO should clarify how many from the 20 lakh were actually deleted.
S
Sarah B
As an observer, I appreciate the scale of this administrative task. Bringing in judicial officers from Odisha and Jharkhand is a smart move for impartiality. Hope the supplementary lists are published well before voting so citizens can check their status.
M
Meera T
While the intent is good, the timing is problematic. With elections in April, will there be enough time for people to appeal if they are wrongly excluded? The process must be fair, not just fast. The focus should be on accuracy, not just meeting a deadline.
V
Vikram M
This is a positive step. So many duplicate and shifted voters clutter the list. Every citizen's vote gets diluted because of this. Hope other states also undertake such intensive revisions. Clean electoral rolls are the foundation of a strong democracy. 🇮🇳

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