By-Kaushik Pradhan & Poulami RoyKOLKATA: Bengal’s voter count, which stood at 7.6 crore before the special intensive revision of the electoral roll, has already dropped by over 75.7 lakh — a decline of nearly 10%. The number is likely to shrink further, with around 24 lakh ‘under-adjudication’ cases yet to be disposed of by judicial officers. The rejection rate, according to Election Commission officials, is currently hovering between 35% and 40%.The draft SIR list published in Dec had excluded 58.2 lakh ASD (absent, shifted, dead or duplicate) voters. The final list on completion of SIR had struck off another 5.5 lakh and put 60 lakh ‘under adjudication’, bringing the state’s electoral roll strength down to 6.4 crore.
The EC published the first supplementary list of ‘under-adjudication’ voters late on Monday while the second supplementary list is scheduled to be released on Friday followed by the third on April 3. Till Thursday, about 36 lakh cases had been disposed of, EC officials said.Though the commission did not specify exactly how many of the ‘under-adjudication’ names had been deleted till now, a senior EC official said, “Till Tuesday, close to 32 lakh cases were vetted. Of these, about 35%-40% were rejected by the judicial officers.” This means, approximately 12 lakh names will not be added to the state’s final voters’ list, taking the total number of deletions so far to about 75.7 lakh. Based on the rejection rate, Bengal’s final voter count could settle at around 6.8 crore.The EC is yet to clarify exactly when those deleted from the rolls can file their appeals before appellate tribunals.Those excluded from the voters list will have to wait for a few more days to file their appeals before appellate tribunals, the senior EC official said on Thursday. The tribunals, which were constituted on March 21, are yet to start functioning.“The state has provided four locations for the tribunals, which we have shared with the Calcutta High Court but the HC has suggested we use the Judicial Academy in New Town. Officials from the HC, state govt and EC will visit the Judicial Academy on Friday, after which the HC will make a decision,” the official said, adding that the court will also decide on the total number of locations for the tribunals.On Wednesday, the senior EC official had said that the first supplementary list consists of about 10 lakh names, including both additions and deletions. These are the cases that the Election Commission had received from Calcutta HC with digital signatures, he said.“On Friday, the HC will send names with e-signs after 5 pm after completion of the adjudication process for the day. Thereafter, 4-6 hours will be required to publish the second supplementary list,” he said.
