SIR enters final stage as hearings, uploading of documents ends in West Bengal

THe on-going Special Intensive revisal (SIR) of the electoral undulate in poll-bound westward Bengal entered its net stage as hearings and uploading of documents ended on Saturday, said chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal.The electoral registration officers (EROs) and additional electoral registration officers (AEROs) will now scrutinise the documents. Roll observers and micro-observers would then give their remarks before the final electoral roll is published on February 28.“We have now entered the final decision-making stage, wherein EROs and AEROs will have to apply their minds without fear or favour. They have to follow all rules and regulations and not go by emotions. No genuine voter should be left out while no ineligible voters should be included in the roll,” said Agarwal.The SIR was rolled out in the state on November 4. The draft electoral roll was published on December 16. Around 5.8 million names of absent, permanently shifted, dead, and duplicate voters were deleted from the draft roll.Nearly 15.2 million voters, whose names could not be mapped with the 2002 electoral roll and those with logical discrepancies, were called for hearings from December 17.Officials said that in some places, hearings were completed almost a week ago. Only in four to five places were hearings held on Saturday.People aware of the matter said around 498,000 voters did not turn up for the hearings. Another around 163,000 voters were found ineligible. Around 661,000 names in the draft roll are likely to be deleted. This is over and above the 5.8 million names already struck off.“This number is expected to rise by the time the final roll is published, as verification of documents is still going on. Documents of around five million voters are still undergoing verification,” said an official. “This is not the end. The electoral roll will be continuously updated as some voters may die and others may shift their address. If a person’s name did not appear in the draft roll, he may still apply after filling out Form 6. If a person’s name was there in the draft roll, but does not appear in the final roll, he may appeal to the district election officer and then to the chief electoral officer,” said a second official.On Friday, Gyanesh Kumar, the chief election commissioner, held a virtual meeting with the poll panel officials in the state and district election officers and warned of strict actions in case of any lapses.Agarwal said the digital trail will remain. “They would be held responsible in case of serious lapses which are found to be intentional in nature.”Assembly elections in West Bengal are due in April this year. A delegation of Election Commission of India (ECI) officials is expected in Kolkata on March 1 or March 2 to take stock of poll preparations. The chief election commissioner and the election commissioner are expected to visit the state before the poll dates are announced.The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has attacked the ECI over the SIR. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has sent at least six letters to Kumar and met him in New Delhi to lodge her protest.The Bharatiya Janata Party said that TMC was attacking it and the ECI, as the SIR would flush out illegal voters, including Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.The ECI has summoned chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty to New Delhi on February 17 over non-compliance with directions, including the filing of cases against two EROs and two AEROs for allegedly adding fictitious voters’ names to the electoral roll and compromising data security.