Serve all pending notices by Sunday, complete hearings in a week: EC
Times of India | 31 January 2026
Kolkata: The Election Commission on Friday instructed officials to generate all pending notices for hearings (about 50,000-60,000) by 5 pm on Saturday and serving all notices (about 5-6 lakh) by 5 pm on Sunday. It also directed completion of all hearings, including uploading documents, within 7 days. The EC had set itself a Feb 7 deadline before to complete the hearing and publication of the final SIR rolls on Feb 14.
"It instructed completion of all hearings, including uploading of documents, preferably in next 7 days. We are confident of completing all hearings in 7 days and believe that extension of the deadline is not required," a senior official at the CEO office said.
The EC also instructed that all SIR documents uploaded in the system, inputs made by micro observers and roll observers, and disposals by EROs/AEROs would be "super-checked" at all levels, starting from DEOs to the CEO. The full bench of the commission, headed by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, held a video conference with Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal and 19 special roll observers.
The EC also stated that in the next 2-3 days, the micro observers in districts would be withdrawn from hearing centres and deployed to assist roll observers in respective districts. "Since SC ordered giving a receipt after hearing, the micro observers' role was reduced. So, they will be withdrawn from hearing centres in 2-3 days to assist roll observers," a senior official said.
"Digital trail of documents uploaded in the system, inputs by MOs and ROs, disposals by EROs/AEROs would be liable for ‘super-checking' by DEOs/roll observers/special roll observers/CEO," the EC's instruction read.
Special roll observers of the districts also gave a progress report during Friday's meeting. It was learnt that the EC expressed satisfaction as the SIR was being done in Bengal but repeatedly flagged the slow upload of documents during hearing.
CEC Kumar once again instructed the observers that there should be no illegal voters in the roll, and said that it's the responsibility of observers to get the work done. CEC instructed the observers that they cannot remain silent. "For hearings completed earlier, the attendance should be uploaded and documents collected from them uploaded within Feb 2, 2026," the EC said. The commission instructed DEOs to ensure that AEROs/EROs dispose of all cases as per norms, without any deviation whatsoever.
Since there are multiple plaints from South and North 24 Parganas, the EC instructed the observers to resolve them.
Meanwhile, deputy election commissioner Sanjay Kumar will head to Malda on Saturday. CEO Manoj Agarwal on Friday said he was yet to receive reports from the DMs regarding the death of BLOs, despite multiple reminders.