West Bengal to call in 3.2 million unregistered voters for initial round of electoral roll revision meetings.

West Bengal to call in 3.2 million unregistered voters for initial round of electoral roll revision meetings.
Around 3.2 million unregistered voters will be summoned in the initial phase of hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, as stated by officials from the West Bengal State Chief Electoral Officer’s office on Monday.

These hearings will focus on voters who were unable to associate their names with those of family members in the 2002 electoral rolls, starting from December 27, the official mentioned.

“We have begun issuing notices to approximately 1 million of these voters today, with notices for another 2.2 million set to be sent out starting Tuesday,” the official informed PTI.
During the enumeration stage, a total of 3,168,424 unregistered voters were identified across the state.

He added that the sessions will be held at district magistrates’ offices, sub-divisional offices, various government departments, and in schools and colleges.

Officials noted that voters with logical discrepancies will be addressed in the subsequent phase, with guidelines awaited from the Election Commission.

Every hearing will take place under the oversight of a micro-observer, he stated.

Training for 4,000 micro-observers will occur in two phases on December 24 in Kolkata, he noted, adding that all micro-observers are officials from the state.

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Earlier, Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the micro-observers lack proficiency in the local Bengali language.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Election Commission is scheduled to visit the state to assess the progress of the SIR of the electoral rolls, according to sources in the state CEO’s office.

“The Commission’s Principal Secretary SB Joshi and Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal will arrive in the state to evaluate the progress of the hearing phase under the SIR process,” he reported.

The officials will also participate in the micro-observer training program on December 24, the official added.

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