The spotlight was on the 60.06 lakh voters in the under-adjudication category — those with unresolved “logical discrepancies” — the luckier among whom are to be included in supplementary rolls on yet unspecified dates
The Election Commission on Saturday published a preliminary “final” post-SIR list for Bengal, which included 60 lakh “under adjudication” and over 5 lakh “deleted” voters, leaving people, parties and officials still confused about who and how many would be eventually able to vote.
The spotlight was on the 60.06 lakh voters in the under-adjudication category — those with unresolved “logical discrepancies” — the luckier among whom are to be included in supplementary rolls on yet unspecified dates.
Officials made two key points: (a) Some 6.44 crore voters had already been approved and (b) Most of those under adjudication had failed to furnish the required documents and are likely to be deleted.
One-third of these 60 lakh are from Murshidabad and Malda, districts with the highest proportions of Muslims, sources said.
After 58.25 lakh names were deleted from the previous list of 7.66 crore as dead, absent, shifted or duplicate, the draft rolls of December carried 7.08 names.
“After the completion of hearings in the post-enumeration phase, including those under Form 7, a total of 5.46 lakh voters have been deleted. But 1.82 lakh new voters have been added through Form 6,” Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal told a news conference.
These deletions and additions mean that 7.04 are either approved or under adjudication, although the deleted names too are mentioned on the list and marked “D”.
“Now, the final rolls have 7.04 crore voters, including 60.06 lakh voters under adjudication,” Agarwal said.
Sources said more fresh voters can be registered — under Form 6 for resident Indians and Form 6A for NRIs — and make it to the supplementary rolls. Form 7 is filed by people seeking the deletion of specific voters.
A senior state government official involved in the SIR suggested that far fewer than 7.04 crore are likely to be able to vote.
“Right now, the rolls include 7.04 crore (eligible) voters, as only 63.71 lakh have been deleted from the rolls of October 27 last year, which is much lower compared with states like Uttar Pradesh, where 2.89 crore voters were deleted,” a senior state government official involved in the SIR said.
The official said: “But the picture will change significantly if the majority among the under-adjudication cases face deletion.”
Uttar Pradesh has nearly two-and-a-half times Bengal’s population.
The uncertainty over the under-adjudication voters was the talking point in Bengal’s administrative and political circles onSaturday.
This category was drawn up as the electoral registration officers (EROs), their assistants (AEROs) and the micro-observers failed to agree over them.
While the EROs and AEROs approved these voters for inclusion, the poll panel-appointed micro-observers deemed them to be lacking the specifieddocuments.
When the matter reached the Supreme Court, it ordered the engagement of judicial officers, if necessary from outside Bengal, to settle these cases.
“A total of 501 judicial officers are adjudicating these cases. Reports from the ground suggest the judicial officers are carrying out their task with the utmost sincerity,” a poll panel source said. “It’s almost certain that no ineligible voter will make it to the (final) rolls.”
Another official said: “According to the rolls published today, 6.44 crore people will be able to cast their votes without any doubt. However, the 60.06 lakh whose fate is under adjudication cannot vote until they are cleared by the judicial officers and make it to the supplementarylists.”
