The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stated that migrant workers from West Bengal living in other states and students studying outside the state can be represented by family members during voter verification sessions. This decision comes as a relief for those facing “logical discrepancy” issues in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The move aims to address the high numbers of such cases among West Bengal residents working or studying elsewhere.
In addition to this provision, booth-level officers (BLOs) will visit voters’ residences to explain the reasons behind the “logical discrepancy” findings during the “progeny mapping” process. The ECI has also requested a declaration from West Bengal government employees to confirm that they are not registered as duplicate voters in multiple locations.
The ECI has completed the hearing process for “unmapped” voters and has begun issuing notices to the approximately 92 lakh voters identified as “logical discrepancy” cases in the draft voters’ list. The upcoming hearing sessions for these cases are scheduled to commence on January 13, with the final voters’ list for West Bengal set to be published on February 14. This tight timeline requires the resolution of all “logical discrepancy” cases within less than a month.
Following the release of the draft voters’ list, a full ECI bench will visit Kolkata to assess the situation before announcing the polling dates for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
