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Bengal's Voter Roll Race: 70 Lakh Forms Due as Deadline Looms

Today marks the final deadline for distributing enumeration forms in West Bengal's Special Intensive Revision. Election officials are confident they'll complete distributing the remaining 70 lakh forms by day's end. The exercise has sparked major political controversy between ruling TMC and opposition BJP. This voter list revision is the first such comprehensive exercise in West Bengal since 2002.

Key Points: West Bengal SIR Deadline Ends Today for Voter Enumeration Forms

  • Officials confident remaining 70 lakh forms will be distributed before deadline expires
  • 91.19% of 7.66 crore forms already distributed across West Bengal state
  • This marks completion of first stage in three-phase Special Intensive Revision process
  • TMC opposes SIR calling it NRC ploy while BJP supports voter list cleanup
2 min read

SIR in Bengal: Fresh deadline for enumeration form distribution ending today

Election Commission's extended deadline for distributing 70 lakh enumeration forms in West Bengal ends today amid political controversy over the voter revision exercise.

"Political heat in West Bengal over SIR has been at its peak since the day Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced the exercise."

Kolkata, Nov 14

The fresh deadline for distribution of enumeration forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India (ECI) will end on Friday, and just around 70 lakh enumeration forms are yet to be distributed.

Officials from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, are confident that, going by the rate of average daily distribution of enumeration forms since the process started on November 4, the distribution of the remaining 70 lakh forms will be completed easily on the last day of the extended deadline.

As per figures available from the CEO's office, a total of 6.98 crore (91.19 per cent) enumeration forms have been distributed in the state up to 8.00 p.m. on Thursday. The total number of electors in West Bengal as per the electoral roll as on October 27 is 7,66,37,529.

The initial deadline for completing the distribution of enumeration forms expired on November 11, as around 15 per cent of the voters in the state have not received them.

Thereafter, November 14 was set as the new deadline for completing the distribution of the enumeration form. Completing the distribution of enumeration forms will also mean the end of the first stage of the three-stage SIR process in West Bengal.

The first stage of the three-stage SIR in West Bengal started on November 4. The entire process is expected to be completed by March next year. The last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002.

Voters whose names or their parents' names were not in the 2002 voter list will have to submit any of the 11 documents specified by the Commission to retain their names in the electoral rolls.

Voters whose names or their parents' names were mentioned in the 2002 electoral list will have to furnish any one of the 11 identity documents identified by the ECI.

Political heat in West Bengal over SIR has been at its peak since the day Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced the exercise.

Trinamool Congress has been opposing the exercise since the beginning, claiming that SIR was the Union government's "ploy" to "slap" the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.

The BJP, on the other hand, claims that Trinamool Congress' opposition to the revision exercise was out of their fear that the names of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya voters would be deleted from the electoral rolls.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
Why the political drama around SIR? If it's just voter verification, what's the problem? Every genuine Indian citizen should welcome this exercise. TMC's opposition seems unnecessary 🤔
A
Arjun K
Hope they complete the distribution properly. My elderly parents in Kolkata haven't received their forms yet. The officials should ensure no genuine voter is left out, especially in remote areas.
S
Sarah B
As someone who works in data management, I appreciate the scale of this exercise. Managing electoral data for 7.66 crore voters is no small task. The 91% completion rate is actually impressive!
V
Vikram M
The political blame game is unfortunate. Instead of fighting, both parties should focus on helping citizens complete the process. Clean electoral rolls benefit everyone 🙏
M
Michael C
With all due respect to the Election Commission, extending deadlines multiple times doesn't inspire confidence. They should have better planning for such crucial national exercises.
A
Ananya R
Last revision was in 2002! That's 22 years ago. No wonder we need this update. Many people have moved, passed away, or become eligible to vote since then. Better late than never! 👍

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