SIR exercise: 32 lakh voters in Bengal to be called for hearings starting Dec 27

The hearings for these “unmapped voters” will begin on December 27.

Around 32 lakh voters in West Bengal whose names could not be mapped to family members in the 2002 electoral rolls will be summoned in the first phase of hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, officials said on Monday.

The hearings for these “unmapped voters” will begin on December 27.

Of the total, notices are being sent to around 10 lakh voters from Monday, while the remaining 22 lakh will be issued notices from Tuesday, an official in the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) told PTI.

During the enumeration exercise, 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified across the state, the official said.

The hearings will be held at district magistrates’ offices, sub-divisional offices, government departments, schools and colleges.

Voters found with logical discrepancies will be examined in a subsequent phase, for which the state has sought detailed guidelines from the Election Commission, another official said.

Each hearing will be conducted under the supervision of a micro-observer. Around 4,000 micro-observers, all state government officials, will undergo training in two phases on December 24 in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the micro-observers lack adequate knowledge of the local Bengali language.

Separately, a delegation from the Election Commission will visit West Bengal to review the progress of the SIR process. The commission’s Principal Secretary S B Joshi and Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal are scheduled to assess the hearing phase and attend the micro-observers’ training programme on December 24, officials said.