Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti visited West Bengal on Tuesday amid the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SIR) of the voter list and expressed concern over errors in the process while holding a high-level meeting with District Election Officers (DEOs) from across the state.
Principal Secretary of the Election Commission S.B. Joshi and Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal were also present.
Currently, 1.18 crore voter entries have discrepancies, which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will correct wherever possible. Remaining cases will be taken up for hearings, with the hearing option activated in the BLO app. DEOs raised concerns over the workload involved in downloading and verifying large numbers of documents, and Bharti said the issue was under consideration by the Commission.
During the meeting, Bharti expressed concern over persistent errors in the SIR process, citing instances where 365 individuals were mapped under a single person’s name in some areas, while in others, 60–65 people were registered under the name of single woman. Sources said Bharti questioned how the revision could be completed on time given such discrepancies, emphasising that delays could affect the timely conduct of elections.
The Election Commission also flagged the submission of documents other than the 11 specified for the SIR process. Roll Observer C. Murugan instructed Micro Observers to list individuals who submitted or accepted invalid documents and reported the matter to the CEO’s office and Special Roll Observer Subrata Gupta. Bharti stressed that such submissions would not be tolerated.
Follow us
