The Election Commission is likely to publish the first supplementary list of voters in poll-bound West Bengal on Monday evening as part of the ongoing SIR exercise, officials said.
They said the list will be released in the same way as the final electoral roll, with copies of it sent to district election officials and then displayed at polling stations across the state.
“The arbitration process was extensive, and a large number of cases, more than 27,000, have already been resolved after due verification. The supplementary list includes these results transparently,” a European Commission official said.
These 27,000 voters were among the 60,000 marked as “under segregation” in the final voters list published on February 28.
“A large number of entries have been kept under segregation for further scrutiny. The supplementary list reflects the outcome of this verification exercise. The list will be displayed first at polling stations. It will later be made available online,” the official said.
He added that security arrangements were tightened before the list was published.
He added: “We are taking all necessary precautions to ensure that the deployment remains peaceful. Adequate security arrangements and close monitoring will be ensured at sensitive locations.”
The official said that a total of 705 judicial officials were involved in determining the inclusion or exclusion of names in the supplementary list, in line with the European Commission’s guidelines.
Meanwhile, the state government on Saturday directed district magistrates to take precautionary measures to maintain law and order while publishing the supplementary list.
“Appropriate precautionary steps may be taken for crowd control, strict vigil at vulnerable spots and maintenance of law and order,” a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Hill Affairs said.
The district officials were also asked to ensure necessary infrastructure support and inform the concerned superintendents and police commissioners.
Voting to select members of the 294-member council is scheduled to take place on April 23 and 29, and the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
