Kolkata, March 1 As the final voters’ list in West Bengal as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision in the state was published, it showed that there has been no fresh voters’ inclusion in as many as 99 Assembly constituencies during the entire SIR exercise starting from the beginning of the numeration phase in December last year till the publication of the final voters’ list
The final voter list was published on Saturday afternoon.
During this phase, there had been no Form-6 application (form for inclusion), as per statistics available from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
This means that in almost 34 per cent of the total of 294 Assembly constituencies in the state, there has not been a single fresh voters’ inclusion application.
However, the sources in the CEO’s office said that, given that there is still some time remaining for Form-6 applications to be submitted, the picture might be different at a later stage.
“Applications for inclusion in the electoral roll can be submitted up to the last date for filing nominations for the upcoming Legislative Assembly election. Since polling dates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal are yet to be announced, there is substantial time left from the last date of nomination, and hence voters seeking Form-6 applications have substantial time to submit Form-6 applications,” the source said.
It is learnt that of the 99 Assembly constituencies where there has not been a single fresh voters’ inclusion application during this period, the maximum has been in the case of the Bangladesh-bordering Nadia district, at 14.
The CEO’s officer said that since the notification for the revision exercise was announced, the Election Commission has been regularly conducting awareness drives among voters about the significance of the different forms in the exercise. “But still, it seems some voters have ignored the awareness calls, which is evident from zero voters’ inclusion applications in so many constituencies in this phase,” the CEO’s office insider said.
The final voters’ list published on Saturday showed that 61,78,245 names have been deleted so far under the SIR process. The number of deletions is expected to rise further, as identity documents of around 60 lakh voters remain under judicial adjudication by the judicial officers appointed by the commission for that purpose.
Official statistics showed that the maximum number of “under adjudication” cases is concentrated in three Bangladesh-bordering districts -- Murshidabad, Malda, and North 24 Parganas. Of these, Murshidabad and Malda are minority-dominated districts.
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