Judicial officers handling the adjudication of voters categorized under “logical discrepancy” have finished processing 25% of the cases referred for judicial arbitration by Friday night. Among these, 34% of the completed cases have been deemed ineligible for the voters’ list so far. Over 60 lakh cases fell under the “logical discrepancy” category, with 15 lakh cases having undergone judicial adjudication, representing a quarter of the total referred cases.
This process identified over five lakh cases as excludable, accounting for approximately 34% of the cases adjudicated. Consequently, the number of excluded voters reached 63 lakh by Friday night, with 59 lakh names already excluded due to categories like “deceased,” “shifted,” “duplicate,” and “missing” in the draft voters’ list from December last year. The excluded voters will have the option to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal following a recent Supreme Court directive.
Approximately 732 judicial officers, including 100 from neighboring Jharkhand and Odisha each, are diligently working to expedite the judicial process. The first supplementary list is expected to be announced next week, according to an insider from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office. The Election Commission of India, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, expressed optimism during their recent visit to Kolkata that the adjudication process will conclude before the upcoming crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal.
The final voters’ list in West Bengal, excluding the 60 lakh cases under judicial adjudication, was released on February 28. As per the Supreme Court’s directive, supplementary lists will be issued based on the progress of judicial adjudication.
