Just before the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections on Wednesday, 1,468 names were added back to the electoral roll. In the case of six, the tribunals said their names cannot be included.
However, there is no clarity on the overall number of cases the tribunals managed to take up, before the Bengal polls conclude Wednesday.
With the addition of the 1,468 names, the total number of electors in Bengal for Wednesday’s polling across 142 Assembly seats is 3.22 crore.
Earlier, the Election Commission of India had said the 19 tribunals had received 34 lakh applications, including for exclusion. In the last supplementary list, ahead of the first phase of Assembly elections for 154 seats, 139 names had been included and eight deleted.
The tribunals had been announced after the adjudication process marked out 27.10 lakh names for deletion due to “logical discrepancies”, but took a long time getting off the ground – despite the narrow window ahead of the polls – with confusion over their operations continuing to persist.
Applying special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court had ordered that those whose names were considered eligible by tribunals up to two days before each of the polling phases be included in the electoral roll for voting this time.
Accordingly, the ECI published the second supplementary list on Tuesday morning. Sources said the panel will publish the new complete list, including the added voters, by Wednesday evening.
In the entire SIR exercise in Bengal, around 89 lakh people have been deleted from the electoral roll.
With the ECI not sharing a comprehensive list, voters need to access its website, and go through separate addition and deletion lists as per their Assembly and booth number. Voters who don’t figure in either of the two lists in their Assembly seat or booth can use their voter ID number to search.
SC ‘out-of-turn’ relief too late
Among those who could not make it to the electoral rolls for these Assembly elections is Imran Ahmed, 41. On Monday, the Supreme Court had directed that the tribunals should take up the case of the Diamond Harbour Assembly constituency voter on “out of turn” basis and take a decision at the earliest.
Ahmed told The Indian Express Tuesday that he had not heard back from the tribunals. “There is no issue with my documents… But the question is how much time it will take. That is what is worrying me.”
Ahmed said he discovered his name had been deleted earlier this month, and that he approached the tribunals on April 2. With no response forthcoming, he escalated the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking urgent intervention.
Ahmed said he had considered visiting the institute at Joka, near Kolkata, where the tribunals are sitting, to push for an early hearing. But, it was difficult by the time the Court order came. “With polling on Thursday, movement is restricted and risky. So I sent an official email requesting urgent attention to my case.”
Reconciled to the fact that he would not be able to vote in these elections, Ahmed, who says he has voted several times before, said: “I am confident my name will be restored.”
Avantika Basu is an intern with The Indian Express