The Election Commission has informed the Supreme Court that a final supplementary list of all voters remaining under review as part of the special intensified review of electoral rolls in West Bengal will be published tonight. The number of these voters remaining under segregation is about 8 lakh.
Those whose names do not appear on the supplementary list will now have to resort to the courts to obtain redress. However, there remains uncertainty about when the two tribunals will begin operating.
After the European Commission published its eighth supplementary list on April 3, it said it had disposed of about 52,000 pending cases. A European Commission official said work on nearly 8,000 applicants is underway and is expected to be completed within the next four days, which essentially means April 7.
Voting day is approaching
More than 60,000 names underwent scrutiny after the final draft of the lists was published. The judgment will be implemented by judicial officials in compliance with the directives of the Supreme Court.
This process gains importance as the first phase of elections in the state is scheduled to be held on April 23, while the last date for submitting nominations for the first phase is April 6. The verification process must be completed before listings can be frozen.
Counting day is May 4.
The poll official said that the issue of providing security to judicial personnel involved in the verification process has assumed additional importance in the wake of the incident at Kaliachak in Malda, where they were sent away on Wednesday evening.
“In light of the incident, adequate steps are being taken to ensure the safety and security of judicial officers deployed to verify voters,” a source said.
