Kolkata: The Election Commission on Saturday said that 5.46 lakh names have been removed from West Bengal’s electoral rolls following a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.
The poll panel stated that 60,06,675 entries have been marked as doubtful and pending and placed under adjudication. It added that names cleared by judicial officers will be incorporated later through a supplementary list.
According to the Commission, enumeration forms were not received from 58,20,899 voters. These include persons who had died, shifted residence, were absent during verification, had already enrolled elsewhere or fell into other categories.
Meanwhile, 1,82,036 voters were added to the rolls through Form 6, meant for inclusion of new electors, and Form 6A, used for overseas electors.
Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said West Bengal now has 7.04 crore voters, a figure that includes those currently under adjudication.
The draft electoral rolls published on December 16 had shown that more than 58 lakh names were removed after being marked as dead, shifted or absent. Following the publication of the draft, notices were issued to around 1.36 crore persons over logical discrepancies, while 31.68 lakh unmapped voters were served summons, The Hindu reported.
The Indian Express noted that the largest number of pending adjudication cases are from Murshidabad, Malda, and the districts of South and North 24 Parganas. Jhargram and Kalimpong reported comparatively fewer cases.
Assembly elections in West Bengal are likely to be held in April or May.
On February 20, the Supreme Court directed that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to assist in completing the revision exercise, amid a dispute between the Trinamool Congress government and the Election Commission.
The Commission had announced in June that a special intensive revision of electoral rolls would be undertaken nationwide and, in a letter dated July 5, instructed states to begin pre-revision activities.
Bihar was the first state to complete the process ahead of its Assembly elections scheduled for November, with at least 47 lakh voters excluded from the final roll.
The exercise in Bihar had drawn concerns that eligible voters might be removed, prompting several petitioners to approach the Supreme Court.