Bengal: Only 6.6% of 1.4cr SIR hearings over; EC has 25 days to go for deadline

KOLKATA:Only 9.3 lakh Bengal voters have attended hearings for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in 18 days since Dec 27, leaving just 25 days for the Election Commission to complete the process for a staggering 1.3 crore electors to meet its Feb 7 deadline.

Senior EC officials said SIR hearing notices have been generated for 65.8 lakh voters and will be prepared for another 74.2 lakh. Of the 65.8 lakh notices generated, less than half – 32.4 lakh – have been delivered to the voters.

SIR hearings in Bengal started on Dec 27 and only 9.3 lakh voters have been able to attend the sessions till Tuesday, an EC official said.




“Unmapped” electors (those who failed to provide linkages to the 2002 electoral roll) and voters whose enumeration forms were found to contain “logical discrepancies” have to attend hearings to get their names included in the final voters’ list, to be published on Feb 14.

Poll panel officials said that among the 9.3 lakh voters who have appeared for hearings, the names of up to 11,472 can be struck off the list. The EC is allowing these electors to submit alternative documents to retain their voting right.

Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal said, “This figure of ineligible voters is not final, as many EROs are giving voters chances (to submit documents). If their documents do not qualify, they are being asked to provide alternative ones... It is expected they will come up with some new documents in their favour.”

Not one of the 12,893 voters who have appeared for hearings in the Kolkata South parliamentary constituency has been found ineligible, officials said. In Kolkata North, the number so far stands at 54.

Nadia tops the list with 9,228 ineligible electors, followed by Hooghly (989), Birbhum (264), South Dinajpur (195), East Burdwan (167) and North 24 Parganas (147).

In Cooch Behar, which shares the longest boundary with Bangladesh (549km) among all Bengal districts, 10 ineligible voters have been identified so far. Another border district, Jalpaiguri, has two such voters, as does North Dinajpur.

Two other border districts —Malda and Murshidabad— have 15 and 68 ineligible voters, respectively, while South 24 Parganas has 69.

West Midnapore has 105 ineligible voters and East Midnapore, two.

The maximum number of hearings — 1.2 lakh — has been held in North 24 Parganas. Close behind is South 24 Parganas. The least number of hearings has been held in Kalimpong: 5,000. Sixty-five voters have been found ineligible in the hill district.