Kolkata, Feb 25 (UNI) The Election Commission has indicated there is no difficulty in announcing the schedule for the West Bengal Assembly elections even before the complete and final voter list is published, provided the directions of the Supreme Court are followed.
According to the Election Commission of India, all voter lists published up to the last date of filing nominations will be considered for the conduct of the elections.
The Commission clarified that elections can proceed on the basis of such lists, even if the publication of the final voter roll continues in phases.
So far more than 58 lakh names were dropped from the draft voter list in the state.
Although the final list is due to be published on Friday, officials said an immediate, consolidated calculation of deleted names will not be possible.
As per the Supreme Court’s order, the Commission will be allowed to publish voter lists in stages even after February 28, and all such lists will be treated as final.
The total number of deletions will be assessed only after considering all these lists together.
“In line with the Supreme Court’s directions, we need not wait for the publication of the final voters’ list for the announcement of the poll schedule. The voters’ list will be published in phases and it will be included in the final roll. Both processes can continue simultaneously,” a senior official at the CEO office told UNI.
However, the delay in publishing the voters’ list has disrupted plans for fresh booth reorganisation, with strong indications that there is little possibility of setting up new booths in this election.
Earlier, the Commission had announced that new booths would be created wherever the number of electors exceeded 1,200. It had also been considering setting up polling booths inside high-rise buildings and apartment complexes.
The Commission had also identified several apartments across five districts, but senior officials now feel that in the present situation of a dynamic voters’ list, booth reorganisation is not feasible.
Before the SIR exercise began, the voter population suggested the need for nearly 14,000 additional booths.
After over 58 lakh names were removed from the draft list, the Commission had indicated that booth reorganisation might be reconsidered.
With the SIR process still incomplete, officials said the old booth configuration would remain in place for now.
“We are giving a last-minute effort to set up 60-70 additional booths in multi-storey housing complexes. Everything depends on the process of SIR in the state,” the official said.
Currently, the total number of polling booths in West Bengal will remain unchanged at 80,681.
On Tuesday, a bench of the Supreme Court of India headed by Surya Kant said February 28 would be the last date for publishing the final voter list.
The court, however, allowed the Commission to continue publishing lists in phases if the verification of “logical discrepancies” or “unmapped categories” is not completed by then.
