Kolkata: The judicial adjudication process for 40 lakh voters, which is around 67 per cent of a total of more than 60 lakh voters, referred for adjudication after being categorised under the “logical discrepancy category” had been completed till Sunday evening, an insider from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) told.
Of the 40 lakh cases, whose judicial adjudication process had been completed till Sunday evening, a total of around 18 lakh cases have been classified as eligible for exclusion.
This means that nearly 45 per cent of total cases for which the judicial adjudication process had been completed have been found to be eligible for exclusion.
However, those who had been found eligible for exclusion in the course of the judicial adjudication process will have the option to approach any of the 19 Appellate Tribunals constituted for the purpose.
The final voters’ list in West Bengal — excluding the 60 lakh cases referred for judicial adjudication — was published on February 28.
It was decided that supplementary lists would be released in line with the progress of the adjudication process.
Before the notification of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was issued for West Bengal in November last year, the total number of voters in the state stood at 7,66,37,529.
In the draft voters’ list published in December last year, a total of 58,20,899 names were deleted.
In the final voters’ list published on February 28, the deletion figure rose to 63,66,952.
Now, it is to be seen what the final deletion figure will be at the end of the judicial adjudication.
An insider from the CEO’s office said that, going by the current pace of judicial adjudication, it can be said that the process will be completed easily within this week.
At present, more than 700 judicial officers, including 100 each from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand, are involved in the adjudication process, and they are working day and night to complete the process at the earliest.
The two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will be conducted on April 23 and April 29.
In the first phase, there will be polling for 152 Assembly constituencies, and in the second phase for the remaining 142 Assembly constituencies.
The results of the two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal will be declared on May 4.
(IANS)
