KOLKATA: Bengal's Special Identity Revision (SIR) tribunals have cleared 1,468 citizens to vote in the second phase of the assembly elections, taking the total number of cleared voters to 1,607 across the two polling phases in the state. In the first phase, 139 people had their voting rights restored.
The number of deletions by the tribunals in the second phase stands at six, bringing the total number of deletions spanning both phases to 14.
The approximate ratio of 115:1 (people cleared to vote versus SIR deletions) raises questions about the entire exercise, as over 27 lakh people have been deleted under the 'logical discrepancy' clause.
Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal said, 'The tribunals included 1,468 voters who were deleted during the adjudication process and excluded six whom judicial officials had earlier included during adjudication. All 1,468 voters can cast their votes on Wednesday.'
Election Commission sources said the individuals whose right to vote has been upheld have been informed about the tribunals' decisions. The poll panel has published a list containing the electors' names; their EPIC, part and serial numbers; the names of their districts and assembly constituencies; and the names and contact numbers of their BLOs.
Among the eight electoral districts going to the polls on Wednesday, Kolkata South has witnessed the most inclusions — 677. Kolkata North's inclusions stand at 596. Howrah, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas have seen 77, 39, 34, and 30 inclusions respectively. In East Burdwan and Hooghly, eight and seven names have been included respectively.
With the inclusion of the 1,468 names, the 142 constituencies going to the polls on Wednesday will have a total of 3,22,15,260 electors, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.
The six deleted voters have to move the Calcutta High Court or Supreme Court to get their names included in the electoral roll, EC sources said.
Though around 27 lakh names were deleted under the 'logical discrepancy' clause during the judicial adjudication phase of the SIR, the 19 tribunals have received more than 34 lakh appeals.
'According to the Supreme Court order that led to the setting up of the tribunals, any person whose name was deleted during the judicial adjudication process can appeal to the tribunals for inclusion. Appeals can also be filed against inclusion of names during the adjudication phase,' said a senior EC official. 'We do not know how many appeals for exclusion were filed.'
Following the SC order, the EC had on March 20 notified the formation of the 19 appellate tribunals, each headed by a retired judge.
