West Bengal's Voter Revision Faces Major Turnout Challenge
The Election Commission of India faces a tight deadline in West Bengal. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has recorded disappointing attendance numbers so far. Only 9.3 lakh voters have attended hearings in the 18 days since December 27. This leaves just 25 days to complete the process for a massive 1.3 crore electors before the February 7 deadline.
Notice Delivery and Hearing Statistics
Senior EC officials revealed important details about the revision process. Hearing notices have been generated for 65.8 lakh voters. Another 74.2 lakh notices will be prepared soon. However, less than half of the generated notices have actually reached voters. Only 32.4 lakh out of 65.8 lakh notices have been delivered successfully.
The hearings began on December 27 across Bengal. An EC official confirmed the attendance figure of 9.3 lakh voters through Tuesday. This represents a small fraction of the total electorate requiring verification.
Purpose of the Special Revision
The Special Intensive Revision targets specific categories of voters. "Unmapped" electors must attend these hearings. These are voters who failed to provide proper linkages to the 2002 electoral roll. Another group includes voters whose enumeration forms contained "logical discrepancies."
Attendance at these hearings is mandatory for inclusion in the final voters' list. The Election Commission will publish this final list on February 14.
Voter Eligibility Findings
Poll panel officials shared interesting data about voter eligibility. Among the 9.3 lakh voters who attended hearings, up to 11,472 names could be struck off the list. The EC is giving these electors an opportunity to submit alternative documents. This allows them to retain their voting rights.
Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal explained the situation clearly. "This figure of ineligible voters is not final," he said. "Many Electoral Registration Officers are giving voters chances to submit documents. If their documents do not qualify, they are being asked to provide alternative ones. We expect they will come up with some new documents in their favor."
District-Wise Performance Analysis
The data reveals significant variations across different parliamentary constituencies and districts. In Kolkata South, officials found an interesting pattern. Not one of the 12,893 voters who appeared for hearings has been declared ineligible. Kolkata North shows a different picture with 54 ineligible voters identified so far.
Nadia district tops the list with 9,228 ineligible electors. Other districts follow with Hooghly recording 989, Birbhum with 264, South Dinajpur with 195, East Burdwan with 167, and North 24 Parganas with 147.
Border District Statistics
Border districts show varying numbers of ineligible voters. Cooch Behar, which shares the longest boundary with Bangladesh at 549 kilometers, has identified 10 ineligible voters. Jalpaiguri, another border district, has two such voters. North Dinajpur also reports two ineligible voters.
Malda and Murshidabad, both border districts, show 15 and 68 ineligible voters respectively. South 24 Parganas has identified 69 ineligible voters in this revision process.
Hearing Numbers Across Districts
The number of hearings conducted varies widely across Bengal's districts. North 24 Parganas leads with 1.2 lakh hearings held so far. South 24 Parganas follows closely behind with substantial hearing numbers.
Kalimpong district presents a contrasting picture. Only 5,000 hearings have been conducted there, the lowest number among all districts. Despite this low number, officials have identified 65 ineligible voters in this hill district.
West Midnapore has recorded 105 ineligible voters, while East Midnapore shows just two such cases. These numbers continue to evolve as the revision process moves forward toward its deadline.
