Bengal SIR: 4.9 lakh voters did not attend hearings despite summons, 1.6 lakh flagged ‘ineligible’

West Bengal’s chief electoral officer on Saturday said that despite repeated summons, 4.9 lakh voters did not show up for hearings after notices were sent to them as part of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in the state, The Hindu reported.

Additionally, 1.6 lakh voters were flagged as “ineligible” due to errors, added Manoj Kumar Agarwal.

The statement came after the hearings of the notices were formally completed in the state

On February 10, the Election Commission extended the deadline for hearing responses to the notices to February 14. The date for publishing the final voter list had also been moved to February 28.

The Supreme Court had on February 9 directed that the deadline for scrutinising documents and objections under the revision of the electoral rolls in West Bengal be extended at least for a week after February 14.

On Saturday, Agarwal said that those whose names were in the draft roll but did not feature in the final list would get an order, The Hindu reported. They would then have a chance to appeal before the district election officer and subsequently before the chief electoral officer, he added.

“They can always get their names back [on the rolls] if they were removed due to errors,” the newspaper quoted Agarwal as saying.

All the hearings related to the special intensive revision had been...

Read more