Kolkata: Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has mandated a rigorous two-tier verification process to authenticate identity documents submitted during hearing sessions for the draft voters' list. The hearings on claims and objections are scheduled to begin on December 27.
The directive specifically targets "unmapped" voters, those whose names are not linked to the 2002 voters' list through either "self-mapping" or "progeny mapping." These individuals will be summoned for hearings and must produce one of the 13 ECI-specified identity documents to ensure their retention in the final electoral roll.
To prevent the submission of forged documents, the commission has established a dual verification mechanism. "The verification of the identity documents will start soon after the end of the hearing session in the first half of January next year," an official from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, confirmed.
In the first stage, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will assess the genuineness of the documents. This will be followed by a second round of scrutiny by District Magistrates, who serve as the District Electoral Officers (DEOs). This layered approach is designed to fix accountability; officials found deliberately clearing forged documents may face disciplinary action, including negative remarks in their Annual Confidential Reports (ACR).
The draft voters' list was published on December 16, with the final roll set for publication on February 14, 2026. The ECI is expected to announce the dates for the West Bengal Assembly elections shortly thereafter.
(Inputs from IANS)