Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday, announced that February 28 will be the new date for the publication of the final voters’ list in West Bengal.
At the same time, the ECI had also fixed February 14 as the new deadline for the completion of the hearing sessions on claims and objections over the draft voters’ list in West Bengal.
The completion of the hearing sessions will be followed by a scrutiny, following which the final voters’ list will be published on February 28.
As per the revised schedule, a document that is available with IANS, after the completion of the hearing season on February 14, there will be a scrutiny of documents and disposal till February 21.
While the rationalisation of polling stations will be completed by February 25, checking the health parameters of the polling stations will be completed by February 27.
Finally, on February 28, the final voters’ list will be published.
The decisions for fixing the new deadline for completion of the hearing sessions and also the new date for publication of the final voters’ list was taken at a meeting between the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, with the full-bench of the ECI at the Commission’s headquarters at New Delhi earlier in the day.
The initial deadline for completing the hearing sessions was on February 7, and originally, the final voters’ list was scheduled to be published on February 14.
However, the extensions of the deadline for both purposes became inevitable after a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, on Monday, directed that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) be granted at least one additional week beyond February 14 to complete scrutiny and take appropriate decisions.
After the publication of the final voters’ list, the full bench of the Commission will visit West Bengal to take stock of the situation.
Soon thereafter, the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state, scheduled later this year, will be announced.
