Bengal SIR: EROs need observer clearance to upload final voter list

Electoral registration officers (EROs) involved in West Bengal’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be required to secure final clearance from Special Roll Observers (SROs) before uploading certain voters’ names to the final electoral rolls.

However, the additional layer of scrutiny will apply only to voters who have appeared for hearings on claims and objections after being flagged as either “unmapped” or falling under the “logical discrepancy” category. Voters in the draft rolls who were not classified under either category will be automatically included in the final voters’ list.

“Unmapped” voters are those who failed to establish any linkage — through self-mapping or progeny mapping — with the 2002 electoral rolls, the last time such an intensive revision was undertaken in the state. Meanwhile, “logical discrepancy” cases refer to voters whose family tree data revealed inconsistencies during the progeny-mapping exercise.

Sources in the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO), West Bengal, said the SROs will carefully examine the identity documents submitted by voters during hearings. Only after verifying the authenticity of these documents will the observers grant approval to EROs to upload the names to the final rolls.

The exercise aims to ensure that only voters who submit at least one of the 13 identity documents prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) are included in the final electoral list.

In the meantime, the ECI has approved two separate lists — one of “unmapped” voters and another of “logical discrepancy” cases — identified during the ongoing SIR. These approved lists were forwarded to the CEO’s office and circulated among EROs on Saturday night.

The process of displaying hard copies of these lists at block offices, panchayat offices in rural areas, and ward offices in municipalities and municipal corporations began on Sunday morning and is expected to be completed by Sunday night or, at the latest, by Monday morning.

The deadline for completing hearings on claims and objections is 7 February, while the publication of the final voters’ list is scheduled for 14 February. The commission, however, has indicated that both deadlines could be extended if necessary.

Soon after the final voters’ list is published, the Election Commission is expected to announce polling dates for the high-stakes assembly elections in West Bengal.

With IANS inputs