With a crucial hearing at the Supreme Court regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, uncertainty persists over extending the deadline for claims and objections to the draft voters’ list after the deadline passed on February 7. Officials from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, awaited word on a possible extension from the Election Commission of India (ECI) but received no confirmation. CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal had requested a seven-day extension, and the current plan is to release the final voter’s list on February 14.
The decision now hinges on whether the deadline will be extended and if it will apply to specific constituencies or the entire state. Despite the lack of formal approval for the extension, district magistrates have been instructed to continue the hearing process in districts where it remains incomplete. These constituencies, mainly in minority-dominated districts like Malda, South 24 Parganas, and Kolkata (Uttar), are the focus of ongoing hearings.
Over 400,000 voters face potential deletion from the final list for failing to attend the claims and objections sessions despite notices. Among them, 50,000 are categorized as “unmapped” voters and around 350,000 as “logical discrepancy” cases. The “unmapped” voters couldn’t establish a link with the 2002 voters’ list, while “logical discrepancy” cases involve unusual family-tree data. The final voters’ list, set for release on February 14, will reveal the total number of deletions made since the draft list was published in December.
