Kolkata: The draft voters’ list for three states and two Union Territories will be published on Tuesday, marking the end of the first stage of the three-phase Special Intensive Revision (SIR) there.
The three states for which the draft voters’ lists will be published on Tuesday are West Bengal, Rajasthan and Goa.
Similarly, the draft voters’ lists will be published for the two Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
The Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) and District Electoral Officers (DEOs) of these three states and two Union Territories have decided to share the draft lists with all the political parties in the respective states and Union Territories that are registered with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
An insider from the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s office said that the voters concerned will have three options to check whether their names are in the draft list or not.
The first option will be to check the voters’ list that will be uploaded on the websites of both the ECI as well as the CEO offices of the respective states and Union Territories.
The second option will be to go to the nearest borough offices and check the printed lists there.
The third and final option will be to contact the Booth Level Officers concerned and ask them whether the name of the voter is there or not.
The ECI will also bring out separate lists of excludable voters in the respective states and Union Territories, which will include deceased voters, shifted voters, untraceable voters, duplicate voters, and names found suitable for exclusion for other reasons.
The first stage of the three-phase SIR, which started from November 4, will end for these three states and two Union Territories on December 16, with the publication of the draft voters’ lists there.
Thereafter, the second phase of the SIR will begin which will involve filing claims and objections, and the notice phase — which is issuance, hearing, verification, and decision on enumeration forms and disposal of claims and objections — to be done concurrently by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
The final voters’ list will be published on February 14, 2026.
In the case of West Bengal, the ECI will announce the dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state scheduled next year immediately after the publication of the final voters’ list.
(IANS)
