With the clock ticking on the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list, a fresh question has surfaced in the state’s election corridors. Will the SIR deadline be pushed back? According to sources in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, hearings in several assembly constituencies across multiple districts are yet to be completed, adding to the uncertainty around the timeline.
CEO seeks extension as hearings remain incomplete
After collecting detailed reports, state CEO Manojkumar Agarwal will submit an application to the Election Commission on Saturday morning, seeking an extension of the hearing deadline. The CEO has started taking updates from District Election Officers (DEOs) across the state regarding the status of hearings.
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Earlier, the DEO of South 24 Parganas requested an extension of the hearing deadline. In addition, DEOs from North Kolkata and Malda have also applied to the state CEO for extending the hearing dates. Manojkumar Agarwal said hearings are still pending in several areas of Kurseong. While hearings have been completed in assembly constituencies 166, 167 and 168 in North Kolkata, they remain incomplete in other constituencies.
Final voter list likely to be delayed
The Election Commission will take the final call on whether to extend the hearing deadline for specific constituencies or for the state as a whole. However, the state CEO has not specified how many days the deadline could be extended if approval is granted. As a result, officials now believe that the publication of the final voter list is also likely to be delayed.
Election Registration Officers (EROs) have already recommended the removal of at least 50,000 names from the voter list, as none of those individuals appeared for hearings and could not be traced. However, there is still no clarity on the total number of names that may be deleted. The CEO clarified that if any voter is excluded from the final list, a letter from the Election Commission stating the reason for exclusion will be delivered to their residence.
