Ahead of the first phase of West Bengal Assembly elections on Thursday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday released the lists of voters included in the electoral roll after they were cleared by appellate tribunals appointed by the Supreme Court, and those deleted for want of declaration.
“Two lists have been published for the first phase of voting. One includes the names of voters included in the electoral roll after they were cleared by the court-appointed Courts of Appeal. The second [list] “It includes deleted voters,” an IEC official said.
Last week, the Supreme Court ordered that acquitted voters be included in the electoral list at least two days before the polls, so they have the right to vote. It was a major relaxation of the previous freeze on voter rolls, as many voters remained stuck in the controversial special intensive review process.
On Thursday, 152 of the 294 constituencies in West Bengal will go to the polls in the first phase of polling. Voting for the remaining 142 seats is scheduled to take place on April 29, with results announced on May 4.
Political parties, candidates, returning officials and district election officials will get copies of the updated voters list, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said on Tuesday. “Voters, whose cases have been decided by the courts, will be informed through their officers at the booth level,” Agarwal said.
On March 10, the Election Commission of India constituted 19 appellate tribunals on the orders of the Supreme Court. It appointed retired judges to hear appeals against orders of judicial officials in cases involving voters who were marked “under adjudication” as part of the SIR system. Court-appointed judicial officials removed more than 2.7 million voters after the rulings.
SIR has been among the key issues that dominated the election campaign in West Bengal. The campaign for the first phase of voting ended on Tuesday.
