3rd supplementary list out, but mystery of missing e-sign plagues SIR in Bengal

KOLKATA: Judicial officers have "disposed of" a total of 37 lakh ‘under-adjudication' cases till Friday evening, but only 22 lakh voters' names are visible on the first two supplementary lists (included and excluded combined). The remaining 15 lakh names seem to be caught in the mystery of the "missing e-sign" — yet another illogical discrepancy that no Election Commission official seems interested in explaining.

Late on Saturday, the EC published a third supplementary list but there was no clarity on how many names were on it. A senior EC official said supplementary lists will be published every day from now.




After the completion of the special intensive revision of Bengal's electoral roll, the EC had marked about 60 lakh voters as ‘under-adjudication', whose cases are currently being reviewed by over 700 judicial officers.

On March 23 evening, senior EC officials indicated that about 29 lakh pending cases had been disposed of by the judicial officers. Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal had said, "Whatever names come through with e-signature of judicial officers up to 5 pm today will all be published in the first supplementary list." Yet, when the first list was published around midnight, it had only 10 lakh names.

The same story was repeated on Friday. EC officials said a total of 37 lakh cases had been disposed of till evening. The second supplementary list, therefore, was supposed to carry the remaining 27 lakh names. However, it had only 12 lakh names. "We received 12 lakh cases with e-signatures and published accordingly," a senior EC official said, without explaining why 15 lakh disposed-of cases did not have the e-sign.

An EC source claimed the ‘digital signature' feature was initially not included in the software developed by the Commission for the judicial adjudication process. "It was introduced into the process flow later. By then, several judicial officers had disposed of all cases for some booths and assembly segments and moved on to adjudicate cases in other part numbers and constituencies. This is primarily the reason why many cases do not have e-signs even after their disposal." These vetted cases will return to their respective judicial officers for e-signature only when the latter have settled all pending cases assigned to them, the source indicated.

Senior EC officials have also indicated that the rejection rate after judicial scrutiny is as high as 35%-40%. Yet, five days after the publication of the first supplementary list and 24 hours after the second, there is still no sign of the appellate tribunals — where deleted voters can file appeals — beginning work. As per EC rules, voters struck off the rolls after adjudication can file appeals within 15 days of the publication of the supplementary lists.

With April 7 being the ‘deadline' for locking voters' lists for the 152 assembly constituencies going to polls in the first phase (April 23), Trinamool Congress has already flagged the narrow window for disposal of appeals. CEO Agarwal on Friday said Calcutta High Court is assessing five locations where the tribunals can be set up.