Bengal: 32 lakh unmapped voters to be summoned in phase-1 SIR hearings from 27 Dec

Around 32 lakh “unmapped” voters in West Bengal are set to be summoned in the first phase of hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, with the process scheduled to begin from 27 December, election officials said.

This category comprises voters whose names could not be linked with those of family members in the 2002 electoral rolls. Officials said notices have already begun going out, with around 10 lakh voters being informed from Monday and the remaining 22 lakh to receive summons from Tuesday.

During the enumeration phase of the exercise, a total of 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified across the state, highlighting the scale of the revision process.

The hearings will be conducted at multiple venues, including district magistrates’ offices, sub-divisional offices, government departments, and educational institutions such as schools and colleges, officials said.

Voters flagged with “logical discrepancies” will be taken up in a subsequent phase, for which detailed guidelines have been sought from the Election Commission, another official said on Monday.

Each hearing will be overseen by a micro-observer to ensure procedural compliance. To facilitate this, around 4,000 micro-observers — all drawn from the state administration — will undergo training in two phases on 24 December in Kolkata.

However, the process has already sparked political controversy. Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Monday that the appointed micro-observers lack adequate knowledge of the Bengali language, raising concerns over the fairness and accessibility of the hearings.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Election Commission is set to visit West Bengal to review the progress of the SIR exercise. According to sources in the office of the chief electoral officer, the commission’s principal secretary, S.B. Joshi, and deputy secretary, Abhinav Agarwal, will arrive in the state to assess the conduct of the hearing phase.

The visiting officials are also expected to attend the micro-observer training programme on 24 December, the sources added.

With PTI inputs