The final voters’ list in West Bengal, released after the Special Intensive Revision, highlights a concentration of “under adjudication” cases in three districts bordering Bangladesh: Murshidabad, Malda, and North 24 Parganas. These cases involve “logical discrepancy” issues referred for judicial review by officers appointed by the Election Commission of India.
In Murshidabad, the highest number of cases under judicial adjudication, totaling 11,01,145, accounts for about 18.35% of the total cases. Similarly, in Malda, another minority-dominated district, 8,28,127 cases have been referred for judicial scrutiny, constituting approximately 13.80% of the total cases.
North 24 Parganas, another border district, has 5,91,252 cases under adjudication, making up around 9.85% of the total cases. Together, these three districts represent almost 42% of the total “under adjudication” cases in the state.
The Election Commission has deployed over 500 judicial officers to examine these cases, following Supreme Court directives. A supplementary list will be issued based on the adjudication progress, clarifying the final status of the electoral rolls. The recently published voters’ list revealed 61,78,245 deletions under the SIR process, with more expected as around 60 lakh voters’ documents are still under judicial review.
