Election Commission Urges Swift Verification of Voter Documents in West Bengal

Concerns Over Voter Document Verification

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has expressed its worries regarding the sluggish pace of verifying identification documents submitted by 'unmapped' voters during the ongoing hearings related to the draft voters' list in West Bengal.

In light of this, the Commission has instructed District Magistrates (DMs), who also serve as District Electoral Officers (DEOs), to accelerate the document verification process, especially since the final voters list is set to be published by February 14 this year.

Currently, hearings for 'unmapped voters'—those who cannot connect with the 2002 voters' list through either 'self-mapping' or 'progeny-mapping'—are taking place.

As per data from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, out of 32 lakh unmapped voters, hearings have been completed for approximately 29 lakh by Wednesday evening.

However, only about 11 lakh of these voters have had their supporting identification documents uploaded into the system after the hearings.

The verification stage, which involves DMs or DEOs confirming the identity documents, has only been finalized for around one lakh unmapped voters. Given this scenario, the ECI has urged DMs and DEOs to hasten the verification process, according to a source from the CEO's office.

Additionally, the ECI has reiterated to the DMs/DEOs that only the 13 specified identity documents will be accepted as valid proof. There have been multiple instances where voters submitted documents outside of these specified ones, prompting the ECI to issue a fresh reminder.

The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is expected to wrap up with the final voters' list publication on February 14, after which the ECI will likely announce the polling dates for the Assembly elections.