Kolkata, April 7 – With the judicial process for voters in West Bengal concluding after midnight on Monday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has estimated that the total number of deleted voters in West Bengal has risen to approximately 91 lakh.
However, the number might increase slightly later on as the ECI arrives at the final figure, with the process of obtaining e-signatures from the judicial officers completed for a small percentage of the total number of cases that were referred for judicial adjudication.
According to figures provided by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, out of the total 60,06,675 cases referred for judicial adjudication, the process has been finalized for 59,84,512 cases, with e-signatures from the judicial officers having been added.
Again, out of the 59,84,512 figure, the number of voters who have been deemed "ineligible" and therefore "deleted" by the judicial officers stands at 27,16,393, which means that the total number of deleted voters in West Bengal currently stands at 90,83,345.
Before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) notification was issued for West Bengal in November last year, the total number of voters in the state was 7,66,37,529. In the draft voters' list published in December last year, a total of 58,20,899 names were deleted. In the final voters' list published on February 28, the deletion figure rose to 63,66,952.
"Now, with 27,16,393 cases found to be 'ineligible' by the judicial officers, the total number of deleted voters in West Bengal in the entire SIR exercise has increased to 90,83,345. The process of obtaining e-signatures from the judicial officers is still not complete for 22,163 cases. Once that is completed, some more names might be added to the current deletion figure," explained an officer from the CEO's office.
However, the voters whose names have been found "ineligible" in the judicial adjudication process will have the opportunity to apply for remission at any of the 19 Appellate Tribunals set up for that purpose.
According to figures available from the CEO's office, the maximum number of cases found "ineligible" during the judicial adjudication exercise were from the minority-dominated Murshidabad district. The total number of deleted names from Murshidabad stands at 4,55,137, followed by North 24 Parganas at 3,25,666, and another minority-dominated district of Malda at 2,39,375.
The two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, voting will be held for 152 Assembly constituencies, and in the second phase, the remaining 142 seats will have polling. The results will be declared on May 4.
