Even 24 hours after the publication of the first supplementary list of voters of West Bengal who were put “under adjudication” by the Election Commission (EC) during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), there was no clarity on how many names were removed from the electoral roll.
According to the EC, so far 29 lakh cases have been adjudicated by judicial officers, deputed by the Supreme Court, out of over 60 lakh pending cases.
Late Monday night, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal Manoj Agarwal had declined to give the number of deletions, saying, “We don’t know how many names have been deleted or how many names will be published.”
EC sources said on Wednesday said that the process to collate deletion numbers was going on, and it will be completed by Wednesday.
At several places, the local administration had not displayed the list of disposed adjudicated cases in booths as per the Supreme Court’s order.
electors can check whether their names are there in the supplementary list or not by giving his or her Assembly constituency, booth number and other details on the ECI website or ECInet application.
With suspense over the deletion figures, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the EC of “playing with SIR”.
Speaking to mediapersons before leaving for North Bengal to campaign for her party, the TMC, she said, “Why are they (EC) misleading people? Why is EC afraid? They can’t take away people’s right to vote… Why was the (supplementary) list published at midnight? Why weren’t all lists posted in every booth? Yesterday, again, two people died by suicide. Those names came because I went to court.”
“Why did the EC sit on the list for around six days after judicial officers disposed of the cases? What were they doing? They are afraid because the list is not transparent,” she added.
Meanwhile, TMC MLA Jakir Hossain, who has been renominated by the party to contest from Jangipur, said his name was in the supplementary list.
Similarly, TMC’s Byron Biswas and BJP’s Bhatar candidate Kalita Maji also found their names in the supplementary list, clearing their path of filing nominations.
According to the rules of the Election Commission, a candidate’s nomination will not be accepted if his name is not on the voters’ list.
TMC’s Raiganj candidate, Krishna Kalyani, meanwhile, claimed that “names of a particular community were being deliberately deleted from the electoral roll. “In our constituency, 96 per cent of the names of one community have been deleted. The Election Commission is misusing its power and killing the democratic system,” Kalyani alleged.
During SIR, about 1.25 crore notices for hearings were sent to voters, citing discrepancies in the details filled in the enumeration forms. Later, the Supreme Court appointed judicial officers to review the eligibility of 60,06,675 electors, or 8.5 per cent of the total electorate.
Official data accessed by The Indian Express showed that the highest number of cases pending adjudication was in Murshidabad district (11 lakh), followed by Malda (8.28 lakh), South 24 Parganas (5.22 lakh), and North 24 Parganas (5 lakh). Jhargram and Kalimpong had the least number of pending cases at 6,682 and 6,790, respectively.
The final electoral roll published on February 28 had 7.04 crore electors, including the names of 60.06 lakh voters who have been flagged for review by Supreme Court-appointed judicial officers. Till their names are cleared and published in supplementary lists, these electors will not be able to cast their votes.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked litigants, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, to approach the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court with their grievances pertaining to the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the exercise had been conducted smoothly across the country except West Bengal.
“There is hardly any litigation (in other states) now. I think there are states where after the SIR, the (exclusion) rate is higher,” the CJI said.
Hearing a batch of petitions, the Bench said several issues raised were administrative in nature and should be addressed by the Calcutta High Court.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the chief minister, referred to the court’s March 10 order that had laid down a framework for handling claims and objections arising from the revision process.
He flagged issues relating to timelines, noting that electoral rolls are required to be frozen seven days prior to polling, and submitted that several candidates whose names were under adjudication may be unable to file nominations within the stipulated deadlines.
The Bench, however, said that most of these concerns fell within the administrative domain.
“These are issues which can be taken up before the Chief Justice of the High Court,” the CJI said, adding that the apex court had already entrusted supervision of logistical aspects to the Calcutta High Court.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee said the complete supplementary list of voters was yet to be made available, and suggested that soft copies be provided to political parties to facilitate scrutiny.
Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, said the Election Commission was willing to publish supplementary lists on a daily basis.
The court also took note of submissions seeking extension of timelines for freezing electoral rolls and said it may consider it.
In its March 10 order, the Supreme Court had issued a fresh set of directions to streamline the SIR exercise in West Bengal.
It directed the creation of independent appellate tribunals headed by former High Court judges to hear appeals against exclusion from voter lists.
With PTI
With suspense over the deletion figures, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the EC of “playing with SIR”.
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