The final electoral roll in West Bengal after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is likely to have around 7 crore electors, after the deletion of about 8 lakh names included in the draft roll and around 60 lakh names under adjudication, according to senior Election Commission (EC) sources.
The EC is publishing the final roll on Saturday, after an unprecedented exercise that saw centrally appointed micro observers reviewing decisions taken by the statutory authority, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). District officials began handing over physical copies of the rolls to political parties at the local level.
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal is expected to address a press conference on Saturday evening to reveal the outcome of the exercise that began in October last year.
When the exercise started, the state had a total of 7.66 crore electors, which reduced to 7.08 crore electors when the draft roll was published in December. About 58 lakh names were deleted after Booth Level Officers (BLO) marked the names as deceased, shifted/absent, or enrolled at multiple places.
In addition to the deletions in the draft rolls, an additional 5 lakh names have been rejected till date, while another 5 lakh people remained absent during the hearing phase, taking the figure beyond the 65-lakh mark.
Names yet to be verified will be marked as ‘Under Adjudication’ in the final list. If a name has been removed, it will be marked as ‘Deleted’, whereas the names of others will appear normally in the list.
How to check your name in final SIR list
According to sources, ECI has started distributing two copies of booth-wise final lists to respective Booth Level Officers (BLOs) through district administrations. BLOs will keep one list with them, and a copy of the list will be displayed at the local booth.
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) will provide ‘soft copies’ of the list to representatives of the state’s eight recognised political parties.
District authorities will also distribute ‘hard copies’ to the Booth Level Agents (BLA) of these political parties.
The list will also be available on the official ECI website (eci.gov.in), the State Chief Electoral Officer’s website (ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in), and the ECI Net app. By entering their name and EPIC number (Voter ID number) on the designated websites or app, voters can check if they have made it to the final list.
West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal Thursday informed that the list can also be accessed via the websites of District Election Officers (DEO).