Election Commission Directs District Officials on Voter List Revisions in West Bengal

Guidelines for Voter List Revisions

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued new directives regarding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in West Bengal. District Magistrates (DMs), who also serve as District Election Officers (DEOs), have been instructed not to issue notices for hearings to voters identified as 'invalid'. Additionally, voters aged 85 and above, as well as persons with disabilities (PWD) and pregnant women, are exempt from attending hearing centers.

Exemptions for Specific Voter Groups

Manoj Agarwal, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, stated that individuals aged 85 or older, PWDs, and pregnant women who have received notices from the commission are not required to appear for hearings. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit their homes to verify the necessary documents for including their names in the voter list. During the last voter list survey conducted in 2002, over 3.2 million voters who could not find their names or their parents' or grandparents' names were asked to attend hearings that began on December 27.

Hearing Postponements and Clarifications

The Election Commission has postponed hearings only for those voters whose names were not found in its central software system but were recorded in the hard copy of the 2002 voter list. This postponement does not apply to cases marked as 'unknown' by the voter registration officials (ERO). Sources from Agarwal's office clarified that while hearing notices may have been issued through the central software system for these cases, these voters should not be summoned for hearings, and the notices should be retained by the ERO or Assistant Election Registration Officer (AERO).

Restrictions on Political Party Agents

The Election Commission has decided to prohibit the entry of political party booth-level agents (BLA-2) into hearing venues. This decision was made following an incident where TMC MLA Asit Majumdar allegedly disrupted a hearing in his constituency of Chinsurah in Hooghly district while demanding the entry of BLA-2 agents. Reports indicate that he also had a confrontation with the Block Development Officer (BDO) over this issue.