SIR in Bengal: Five additionally appointed special roll observers to pinpoint 'deliberate errors' in data entries

Kolkata, Dec 9 The main responsibility of the five additional special roll observers appointed to review the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal will be to pinpoint instances of "deliberate" data entry errors in the second stage of the exercise that will start after the publication of the draft voters' list on December 16.

Sources in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office, West Bengal, said that besides identifying specific and deliberate data entry errors, the task of the five additional special roll observers will also be to pinpoint "people within the system" responsible for such deliberate errors and recommend disciplinary action against them.

Sources in the CEO's office said that in the second stage of the revision exercise, there will be performance evaluation of booth-level officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) during the first phase of the SIR.

The second stage of the SIR exercise, starting after December 16, will involve filing claims and objections, and the notice phase -- which is issuance, hearing, verification, and decision on enumeration forms and disposal of claims and objections -- to be done concurrently by the EROs.

After the second stage is over, the third and final stage, which is the publication of the final electoral roll, will be on February 14. Soon after the publication of the final electoral roll, the ECI is expected to announce the dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state.

Meanwhile, till Monday afternoon, the number of booths in West Bengal identified as not having a single deceased voter, or a duplicate voter with names in two places, or any voter who has shifted elsewhere, has undergone a drastic revision and dropped to just two from the abysmal figure of 2,208 reported on December 1 evening.

The ECI has also scrapped the idea of setting up polling booths within housing complexes having multiple high-rise towers in the state, amid the "failure" of the District Magistrates, as well as the district electoral officers, to identify an adequate number of such housing complexes that would be ideal for setting up polling booths.

The DEOs have been able to identify only two such housing complexes till Monday morning.

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