Despite widespread speculation, the list of voters marked as ‘under adjudication’ or ‘pending adjudication’ who have passed verification was not published in West Bengal on Friday.
The Election Commission (EC) has announced that the first supplementary list will now be released on Monday, after which updated lists will be published in phases every Friday. According to commission sources, documents of around 27.3 lakh voters have been reviewed so far. However, the EC has not disclosed how many among them have been cleared by judges or judicial officers.
Sources indicate that nearly 35–40 percent of voters may have failed the verification process based on their documents. Meanwhile, even before the supplementary list is officially published, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has raised concerns, claiming that around 10 lakh voters under adjudication have already been excluded.
At Trinamool's manifesto release event on Friday, Mamata Banerjee said, "The SIR list that was supposed to be published has not come out even today. Days are being wasted like this. As far as I have heard, out of 60 lakh, 22 lakh voters under adjudication have been settled. Of them, 10 lakh have been excluded. This is what I have heard." She added, "Most have been excluded from Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur. A particular community has been specifically targeted. Many Hindus' names have also been dropped. Many Rajbanshis and Matuas' names have been dropped." The Chief Minister questioned, "If it takes 15-20 days to settle 22 lakh voters, will the process be completed before the elections? Isn't this injustice by the Election Commission in the name of delivering justice? They are controlling everything. Along with that, Amit Shah's office and Narendra Modi's office are threatening whoever they can. And they're saying send 20 lakh jawans. They will apparently enter the booths and stamp. Seeing so many observers, police from other states, I'm worried about what to feed them! We are already afraid of cooking gas. They are stopping Bengal's people from eating."
Commission sources report that the first list will be published on Monday. However, regardless of when the list is published, the police and administration have been alerted about law and order. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, Special Observer Subrata Gupta and Special Police Observer NK Mishra held a virtual meeting with district magistrates and police superintendents-commissioners on this day. Sources claim they announced that 400 more companies will arrive in the state by March 31, followed by 2,000 companies in phases. Central forces will be responsible for control rooms and security at district magistrate offices. The commission will take necessary action if there is unrest or violence. The CEO warned of taking measures, from seeking explanations to action if central forces are not used properly. He announced that Subrata, Mishra and the CEO himself will soon visit various districts separately to review election preparations.
The CEO announced that the list of settled voters under adjudication has reached 40 thousand booths so far. The remaining work will be completed within the next day or two. The first supplementary list will be published by Monday afternoon. Additionally, voters can check online on the Election Commission and the CEO office websites using EPIC numbers to see whether names under adjudication have made it to the list.
However, targeting the commission on this day, Banerjee alleged, "We have all heard BJP leaders' statements. They had decided from the party office to exclude 1 crore 20 lakh names. Initially, they excluded 58 lakh names. Along with 60 lakh! That comes close to 1 crore 20 lakh."
ALSO READ | West Bengal elections: 2,400 CAPF companies to be deployed ahead of polls, says MHA
While preparations are underway to publish the first supplementary list of voters under adjudication, the Kolkata High Court has now taken initiative to form an Appellate Tribunal for appeals by failed voters. Sources report that following advice from the High Court's Chief Justice and other judges, the country's Election Commission (EC) has published a list of 19 former judges for the tribunal. This includes former Kolkata High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, former judges Ranjitkumar Bag, Biswajit Basu, Siddhartha Raychaudhuri and 15 others. They have been assigned tribunal responsibilities for various district-wise assembly constituencies.
Retired Chief Justice Sivagnanam will handle some assembly constituencies in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas. The others will be responsible for various districts. Voters whose names will be excluded because judges were not satisfied with their documents from the adjudication list can appeal to this tribunal. For this, they can apply online through the ECI NET app or by visiting https://ecinet.eci.gov.in. They can also apply in person to the concerned District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Officer and Sub-Divisional Magistrate. DMs, SDOs or SDMs will have to upload their applications online. The tribunal will then have to quickly settle these voters' appeals.
