Kolkata, March 6: The 200 judicial officers from the neighboring states of Jharkhand and Odisha will arrive in West Bengal by Saturday and begin their work on March 9, as part of the Election Commission of India's (ECI) ongoing exercise to adjudicate voter documents identified under the "logical discrepancy" category.
They will participate in a two-day training program on the judicial adjudication procedure on Saturday and Sunday, after which, starting on Monday, they will join the existing team of judicial officers from the state who are already involved in the process, according to sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.
"With the arrival of the 200 judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha, the total number of judicial officers involved in the adjudication process will increase to 732. While most of these 200 judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha will be stationed in Kolkata, a few will also be deployed in other major district towns such as Bardhaman in East Midnapore district, Asansol in West Burdwan district, Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, and Siliguri in Darjeeling district," a source in the CEO's office stated.
Their accommodation has been arranged primarily near the airport in Kolkata and major railway stations, both in Kolkata and in the district towns.
Two other important developments related to the judicial adjudication aspect in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the preparations for the upcoming crucial Assembly elections in the state are scheduled for next week, particularly on Monday and Tuesday.
The full bench of the ECI, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, will arrive in Kolkata on the night of March 8 with a packed schedule for the next two days to review both the ongoing judicial exercise as well as the preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls.
On March 10, Tuesday, a crucial hearing on the SIR and related judicial adjudication is scheduled at the Supreme Court.
The final voter list in West Bengal, excluding cases referred for judicial adjudication, was published on February 28. The supplementary list will be published as per the earlier order of the Apex Court.
Over 60 lakh cases were referred for judicial adjudication, and as of Thursday night, the process had been completed for around five lakh cases, according to the statistics available from the CEO's office.
