Kolkata, Feb 6 Over 50,000 "unmapped" voters and more than 3.5 lakh voters identified as "logical discrepancy" cases in West Bengal have not turned up for hearings on claims and objections to the draft voters’ list till Friday evening, despite repeated notices, and may face deletion from the final voters' list.
The total number of "unmapped" voters summoned for hearings stood at 31,68,426. Of these, a little over 50,000, or 1.57 per cent, did not appear despite repeated notices and have already been identified by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) as eligible for deletion from the final list.
The total number of voters identified as “logical discrepancy” cases and summoned for hearings stands at 94,49,132. The hearing process is currently underway, and the Election Commission of India (ECI) is confident of completing it within the scheduled deadline of February 7.
Out of these, a little over 3.5 lakh, or 3.70 per cent, have not turned up so far.
An insider in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that before finally deleting the names of absentee voters, individual communications would be sent to them citing the reasons for the proposed deletion.
Unmapped voters are those who were unable to establish any link with the 2002 voters’ list either through “self-mapping” or “progeny mapping”.
On the other hand, “logical discrepancy” cases are those in which unusual family-tree data were detected during “progeny” mapping.
The deadline for completion of the hearing process expires on February 7, and the final voters’ list is scheduled to be published on February 14.
“Only around 15 of the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal still have incomplete hearings. In such cases, the Commission may selectively extend the hearing period by a couple of days,” a CEO’s office insider said.
When the draft voters’ list was published in December last year, 58,20,899 voters were deleted after being identified as deceased, shifted, or duplicate.
With the publication of the final voters’ list on February 14, the exact number of deletions will become clear.
After the publication, the full bench of the ECI will visit West Bengal to assess the situation. The Commission will then announce the polling dates for the Assembly elections scheduled later this year.
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